President Bush on July 30 signed into law the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, an extensive housing bill that aims to shore up the struggling housing market and reinforce mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The bill would provide $180 million for pre-foreclosure counseling, to be distributed in grants by NeighborWorks America — with 15 percent targeted for low-income and minority homeowners and neighborhoods. This amount includes $30 million in grants for legal counseling to assist homeowners in foreclosure. 

The legislation also provides the following: 

• $3.92 billion in emergency assistance (CDBG Funds) to communities hardest hit by the foreclosure and subprime crisis to purchase foreclosed homes, at a discount, and rehabilitate or redevelop the homes to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the significant losses in home values of neighboring homes.
  
  
• Foreclosed and rehabilitated homes would be sold or rented to moderate-income individuals and families — whose incomes do not exceed 120 percent of the area median income.  At least 25 percent of the funds would be targeted to house low-income and very low-income persons and families — whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of area median income.
  
  
• Any profit from the sale, rental, rehabilitation or redevelopment of these properties must be reinvested in affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization.
  
  
• $15 billion in tax incentives, including tax credits for first-time homebuyers and an increase in federal low-income housing tax credits for development of affordable housing projects.
  
  
• Provides for affordable housing programs, which includes the creation of a permanent Housing Trust Fund to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing and homeownership opportunities for extremely low and very low income families.

For more details on the housing bill, see bill summary.

On July 14, the Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule for home mortgage loans to curb abusive lending practices and provide increased protection of consumers.

The rule, which amends Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and was adopted under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA), prohibits unfair, abusive or deceptive home mortgage lending practices and restricts certain other problematic mortgage practices. The rule also establishes advertising standards and requires that certain mortgage disclosures be provided to consumers earlier in the transaction. Learn more: Summary of Rule Change | Final Rule

Enterprise Community Partners has announced availability of grant funds of up to $50,000 per project for developers committed to providing green affordable housing. The application process begins August 5 and must be received online by September 18. Awards are expected to be made the first week of November. Grant guidelines and application are available here.

Enterprise will also offer an online meeting on August 5 at 2:00 p.m. EST to review the application process. Information on joining the meeting is available here.

The Kresge Foundation awards planning grants on an ongoing basis for the renovation and historic preservation of existing structures – as well as new green construction. Grants range from $50,000 to $100,000 to support the integrated design process for the following projects:

• Renovation
• Historic preservation
• New construction designed to achieve LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – certification at the Platinum level from the U.S. Green Building Council
• New construction designed to meet the Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s Living Building Challenge (also endorsed by the U.S. Green Building Council)
• New construction designed to be net-zero energy efficient (the facility produces as much energy as it consumes each year)

The Foundation recently announced grant awards totaling nearly $43 million. Visit the Kresge Foundation online for more information on the costs covered by the planning grants, as well as application and eligibility criteria.

The Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation (LCEF) funds community improvement projects and home safety initiatives, including building repair and renovation, community clean-up, landscaping and painting projects, construction and trades related initiatives and playground enhancements. Applications are awarded on an ongoing basis. An eligibility test is available on their Web site.

This forum will provide extensive opportunities to be in peer-to-peer sessions, where community organizers can share their organizing experiences with others doing similar work in the region and nationally. Additionally, the forum will focus on what is current in — and what the future may hold for — the field of community organizing. The forum will be held August 21-22, after the Community Organizer's Symposium and will present a great opportunity to pull together the skills and lessons of the symposium. Participants will also be asked to organize a plan of action to take back to their communities. Learn how to be a part of this class and register now.

Two courses from the Rural Development track show how manufactured housing provides affordable housing options for rural and suburban families. Using Manufactured Housing in Affordable Housing Development (RD143) covers the nuts and bolts of developing and planning manufactured housing communities. Preserving and Improving “Mobile Home Parks” ( RD144) shows how to use community organizing to keep these communities affordable. Learn more about RD 143 and RD144, and register today to take these courses at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Chicago, August 18 - 22, while space is still available.

Practitioners who have taken the new NeighborWorks online E-Learning Foreclosure Basics course are well prepared for the Foreclosure-focused Community Organizing Symposium at the Chicago Training Institute this August. But those who haven’t yet taken advantage of the convenience and wealth of information at their fingertips, should sign up now for the online course. The course introduces the tools and skills needed to make a difference in the lives of residents, while still being close to home and the tasks at hand. Plus, the online HO109el satisfies one of the requirements for counseling certification and is equivalent to the popular two-day Foreclosure Basics course taught at the NeighborWorks Training Institutes and regional training. Register today.

The State of the Nation's Housing 2008, a study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, concludes that demand for new homes has dropped well below projected long run demand. House price deflation, tight credit, and consumer concerns over the direction of the economy have kept buyers at bay. On the other hand, the report notes that at some point demand will bounce back -but it's unclear precisely when the growing demand will lead to stabilization or increases in house prices. Learn more.

Published by the National Housing Institute, the summer 2008 issue of Shelter Force, the journal of affordable housing and community building, is now available. The theme, "What Green Means for Communities," includes articles on green-collar job training, the urban fresh food revolution, and "greening the ghetto" in the South Bronx. There are also articles on "Decoding Housing Finance Agencies" and "Subprime's Footprint." View Online.