By nearly every measure, the housing market in the United States has slowed considerably from the frenetic pace of the past few years. As a result, first-time homebuyers have more opportunities to find and finance the best home for their needs, says Marietta Rodriguez, national director of home ownership programs for NeighborWorks America.
View news release.

NeighborWorks America has embarked upon an ambitious initiative — “Power of Ten” — in the Gulf Coast through January 1, 2010. A report recaps NeighborWorks activity in hurricane recovery and ten goals as part of a new initiative. View Power of 10 [PDF]. Information about sponsorship opportunities is available from Todd Pittman at 202.220.6311 or via e-mail at tpittman@nw.org

The Home Again program is aiding homeowners in Pass Christian, a Mississippi Gulf Coast city that was heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Eight factory-built homes have already been placed in the first phase of the Home Again modular home program. The program will provide a total of 34 modular homes for community residents View news release.

The NeighborWorks Campaign for Home Ownership announced that it has helped 40,300 families achieve the dream of homeownership and generated more than $5.39 billion in new mortgage lending between January 1, 2003 and March 31, 2006. View news release.

At the urging of the Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan, Congress passed legislation raising the cap on the public welfare investment authority for national banks from 10 to 15 percent of the institution’s capital and surplus. Dugan said this increase "has the potential to generate an additional $30 billion in private investment from national banks that will go toward strengthening our communities without one penny of taxpayer money."

“NeighborWorks America applauds this action by the Comptroller of the Currency and Congress” said Steven Tuminaro, director of Public Policy and Legislative Affairs for NeighborWorks America.  “The willingness of the Comptroller of the Currency to raise the community development investment limit, demonstrates that investment in community development activities is not the risky business it was once assumed to be.”   View article.

Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Ron Javor, assistant deputy director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, LuAnn Clark, director of Salt Lake City Housing and Neighborhood Development, and Francis Steven Redburn of the Office of Management and Budget (retired), were recently honored by NeighborWorks America for their leadership in expanding the affordable housing supply for low- and moderate-income families, and strengthening communities. View news release.

For a number of years, NeighborWorks America has been urging a change in the regulations governing the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) of the Federal Home Loan Banks, to allow AHP funds to be used to support revolving loan funds and loan pools. Such a change has recently been announced. Among other changes, the revised regulations authorize the Federal Home Loan Banks, at their discretion, to provide AHP direct subsidies under the competitive application program for eligible projects and households. The change allows both the lending of the subsidy, and the subsequent re-lending of the subsidy principal and interest repayments by a revolving loan fund or loan pool. This change is intended to expand the eligible means of supporting affordable housing through the program.

"I would like to particularly acknowledge the work of John Santner, our North Central district director and June Bailey, executive director of Community Housing Services of Wichita/Sedgwick County for their efforts in support of this important change to the AHP program," said Steven Tuminaro, director, Public Policy and Legislative Affairs, NeighborWorks America.

The amendments to the Affordable Housing Program regulations were published in the Federal Register on October 6, 2006 – and the changes will become effective on January 1, 2007.
View complete Affordable Housing Amendments [PDF].

Register today for the highest quality training for community development practitioners and resident leaders in the country – and a very special opportunity to contribute to New Orleans’ recovery.

• A symposium on December 13, Organizing for Social Equity and Community Rebuilding, which will focus on community organizing and resident leadership needed to rebuild communities in the Gulf Coast and throughout the rest of the country
  
• Volunteer opportunities for participants interested in lending a hand to a New Orleans rebuilding effort
  
• Special site visits in numerous courses which will offer learning opportunities applicable to your community
  
• New courses in the Native American Community Development Training Program with full scholarships available.  Applications due October 20.
  
• Several courses in our continued Resident Services series
  
• Four green courses sponsored by The Home Depot Foundation

More information on this special institute is available at www.nw.org/training.

The Consortium for Housing and Asset Management (CHAM) is hosting its 7th Annual Asset Management Professionals Conference in New Orleans. Encouraged to attend are CDC asset and property managers; CDC executive directors; state and local housing agency staff; NEF/ESIC
program staff; LISC/Enterprise staff; and funders/lenders.  Check www.cham.org for more information. CHAM is a collaboration of The Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Enterprise Community Partners, and NeighborWorks America.

Organizations with winning innovative programs and strategies to combat or prevent foreclosure were presented with awards at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Washington, DC in August. 
Read about the winners and their programs.

Two new sections have been incorporated into the NeighborWorks Web site: Refinancing and Post-Purchase Programs.  Each section provides new homeowners and financial counselors alike with information and research tools including articles, links, and training resources about such things as mortgage refinancing, home equity loans, and general post-purchase education.

A new HUD commissioned study published in March 2006 is now available from the Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership section of NW.org.  It offers a national perspective regarding the characteristics and outcomes of voucher homeownership (VHO) programs. Ten active or noteworthy sites were assessed and 206 public housing authorities reporting at least one VHO purchase were surveyed. The following topics are covered in the report:

• Program planning and design;
• Financing homeownership;
• Characteristics of VHO purchasers and their neighborhoods;
• Characteristics of housing markets in VHO communities, and;
• The relationship between program and market factors and the rate of home purchase.

The executive summary and study are available for download from the Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership section.

A report prepared by Abt Associates Inc. for HUD takes a critical look at the financial and social benefits that accompany homeownership at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Part literature review and part empirical analysis of American Housing Survey data, The Homeownership Experience of Low-Income and Minority Families: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature investigates the housing and neighborhood conditions, the financial ramifications, and the social outcomes of homeownership for low-income and minority homebuyers. Among the report’s many findings is the indication that homeownership, while sometimes a risky proposition for low-income and one wage-earner households, can be a significant, and sometimes the only, vehicle for wealth creation for these households. View full document at HUD Web site [PDF].

America’s Promise has just launched the 2007 100 Best Communities for Young People competition, inviting communities across the country to compete for the honor of having their locality named one of the nation’s great places to grow up. First launched in 2005 by America’s Promise Founding Chairman Colin L. Powell, 100 Best showcases communities that do an outstanding job of fostering safe and caring environments that effectively educate young people and help them become productive citizens. Winners will be announced in late January 2007.

The Federal Reserve's new report, Higher-Priced Home Lending and the 2005 HMDA Data, summarizes the data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, or HMDA. Among the report's findings are that African-American and Hispanic borrowers are much more likely than whites to obtain "higher priced" conventional home purchase loans. In 2005, nearly 55 percent of blacks as compared to 17 percent of non-Hispanic whites closed on such higher priced loans. View report [PDF]

According to a new study released by the Consumer Federation of America, also based on HMDA data, homeowners residing in the southwestern and Great Plains states are much more likely to refinance with higher interest rate subprime loans than are those that live in the Pacific or Northwestern regions. View News Release [PDF].