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The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has selected Marsh to join the association’s affinity program and to serve as the exclusive provider of health insurance services for its 140,000 members

Federal budget negotiators have reached a deal which passed yesterday in the House of Representatives with a vote to follow in the U.S. Senate. New Jersey housing advocates are calling on the Senate to vote in favor of the budget which would increase sequestration caps and urge full funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget to address the nation’s housing affordability crisi

Demonstrating the Christie Administration’s commitment to build back stronger after Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Charles A. Richman and New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta today joined Senate President Stephen Sweeney, federal, state and local officials, and Project Freedom, Inc. to celebrate the grand opening of Freedom Village at Toms River, a 72-unit affordable rental community for special needs residents and working families in Toms River, Ocean County

The people of Vermont will now forever have access to one of the state’s most popular and well-loved recreation areas in Central Vermont—the Molly’s Falls Pond property, known by many as the “Marshfield Reservoir”. The Vermont Land Trust today announced the sale of 1,029 acres to the Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation

In accordance with the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, HUD published a Notice in the Oct. 30, 2015, Federal Register identifying Federal buildings and other real property HUD has reviewed for suitability for use to assist the homeless. The properties were reviewed using information provided to HUD by Federal landholding agencies or by GSA regarding their inventories of excess or surplus property. The list includes buildings and properties in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.

The Indiana Court of Appeals yesterday struck down approval of Vectren’s plan to spend roughly $90 million in ratepayer money on its aging A.B. Brown and F.B. Culley coal-fired power plants outside Evansville. The Court found that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission violated the law by failing to determine whether Vectren met all legal requirements before approving Vectren’s use of the new equipment. The Court’s decision means that the case goes back to the Commission to decide whether Vectren should be allowed to pass the costs of the projects on to its ratepayers

Ten years ago in October 2005, a determined group of Housing Partnership Network (HPN) members and staff commandeered an RV in Fort Myers, Florida to make the difficult journey to New Orleans. The city was still virtually inaccessible in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Our nationwide network had jumped into action after the storm with HPN members providing temporary shelter to thousands of evacuees in member-owned housing developments throughout the country.

“The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal,” sixth edition, published this week by the Appraisal Institute, includes more than 5,000 entries, 1,250 revised definitions and 450 new terms and has been updated for consistency with current professional standards documents and with Appraisal Institute materials.

The Department of Housing and Human Concerns has begun accepting online applications for its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) waitlist and will continue accepting online applications until 11:59 p.m. on November 8, 2015. Hardcopy pre-applications will only be available through first class mail by advanced written request to the County of Maui as a reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities by Friday, October 30th. No applications will be provided at the agency.

The National Institute of Building Sciences, through its Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) and Council on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (CFIRE), has released a new white paper to promote the use of private and public incentives to achieve resilience in U.S. communities.

Tom Woods, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo., today issued the following statement on Rep. Paul Ryan’s election as the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Congress is poised to approve a federal budget this week that would include a dramatic overhaul of the way real estate partnerships are audited, including multifamily. Specifically, this two-year bipartisan budget deal approved by the White House and congressional leaders would set discretionary spending levels through 2017 and increase the nation’s debt ceiling. With this overhaul, lawmakers are trying to address the fact that large real estate partnerships are audited at much lower rates than their C corporation counterparts. They have simplified the audit process in the budget deal because they believe it will capture more tax revenues.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) projects originations of commercial and multifamily mortgages will rise 6 percent in 2016 to $485 billion. Mortgage bankers' originations of multifamily mortgages are forecast at $187 billion in 2016, and total multifamily mortgage originations are projected at $225 billion.

Constellation, a retail energy supplier, today announced an innovative partnership initiative with Habitat for Humanity aimed at reducing energy costs for Habitat partner families through solar generation, weatherization and other energy efficiency solutions. Funded by $100,000 in direct funding to Habitat affiliates and a new $100,000 national partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, the initiative will reach families in Boston, Chicago, Houston and Baltimore, where Constellation is headquartered, and support builds in other cities where the company does business.

The Wheaton Franciscan Sisters are pleased to announce a new direction for Franciscan Ministries, Inc. under ownership and sponsorship of Mercy Housing, Inc. The proposed transfer is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2016 subject to the successful completion of due diligence, and will include Franciscan Ministries’ current 2,620 units of housing in addition to the pending acquisition of another 1,200 units in eight states.

The National League of Cities (NLC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) today announced that mayors from four cities—Birmingham, Ala.; Denver; Long Beach, Calif.; and Rochester, N.Y.—have been selected as the 2016 class of Daniel Rose Fellows by the Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use. Mayors William Bell, Michael Hancock, Robert Garcia and Lovely Warren will lead teams from their respective cities who will receive technical assistance on a local land use challenge from NLC, ULI and their peers from the other fellowship cities.

Several national groups sent a letter to President Obama urging the Administration to rethink its position on the recapitalization of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and calling for their continued reform. The letter is in response to comments last week from Jacob Lew, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Antonio Weiss, Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, that seemingly suggested that the Obama Administration would not consider recapitalization of the GSEs

On October 22, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled, "The Future of Housing in America: 50 Years of HUD and its Impact on Federal Housing Policy" to review the effectiveness of HUD programs since the Department was established half a century ago

Just now, the United States Senate passed S.1731, the “Homeless Veterans Services Protection Act” which will protect the eligibility for VA homeless services of homeless veterans with “Other Than Honorable” (OTH) discharges

Pending home sales cooled in September for the second straight month and to their second lowest index reading in 2015, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All four major regions experienced a pullback in activity in September.