There were two recent updates, one federal and one local, on the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) program as funded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Federally, the Congressional House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations recently had a hearing on the status of Recovery Act Spending by the Department of Energy (DOE). […]
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Tag Archives: ARRA
WAP Update
February 4, 2011 
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We’ve discussed the ARRA Weatherization Assistance Program a few times here at Texas Housers, focusing on perceived shortcomings creating local jobs in the low-income communities served by the program and our take on early news coverage of its “slow start”. Last week’s Texas Observer had a more up-beat view of the program. In an article […]
Read moreTwo Reports from the HUD OIG on Texas Entities
January 31, 2011 Comments Off
HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two audit reports on Texas entities last week. One report covered $503 million of the Katrina, Rita, and Wilma disaster recovery funds that flowed through TDHCA’s CDBG program, while the other report covered $725,546 in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) […]
Read moreHousing Credit Update
December 17, 2010 Comments Off
A couple of changes in the prospects for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program in the last few days. The Tax Credit Exchange (i.e. 1602 Grants in Lieu of Tax Credits) program was not extended in the final “tax extender” compromise bill that passed the Congress yesterday. This program was used as leverage by […]
Read moreBig Improvements in the 502 Direct Program in Texas
November 23, 2010 1 Comment
Last year we reported on USDA’s 502 Direct Loan Program, finding the Texas program poised to return funds allocated to the state in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our follow-up in June suggested the program had turned the corner, and was on track to improvement. The USDA 502 Direct Loan Program is […]
Read moreTwo Documents From The Feds This Week
September 24, 2010 Comments Off
The Feds released two documents this week that are worth mentioning, at least in passing. First, the Obama Administration’s “housing scorecard” for September. Lots of fun facts in it, but this one is a real humdinger: “Cumulative Foreclosure Completions since April 2009: 1.42 Million.” That’s more housing units than exist in North Dakota, Vermont, Alaska […]
Read moreMore NSP News
September 9, 2010 Comments Off
HUD yesterday announced the third round of funding for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Funding. Texas Grantees received $18 Million: Dallas $2,356,962 Dallas County $1,364,426 Harris County $1,925,917 Hidalgo County $1,716,924 Houston $3,389,035 State Of Texas $7,284,978 Texas Total $18,038,242 Texas’s grants are make it the 10th largest NSP recipent, dwarfed by Florida and California’s […]
Read moreThey went the distance
September 7, 2010 Comments Off
Last Friday TDHCA posted a supplement to its materials for its board meeting this Thursday. The supplement indicates that TDHCA hit their September 3rd Neighborhood Stabilization Funding obligation deadline, stating: “WHEREAS, on July 29, 2010 this Board granted the Executive Director emergency authority to approve awards and other necessary actions to achieve the full and […]
Read moreAG rules that location of weatherization assistance program activities is secret
August 6, 2010 Comments Off
For the past few months we’ve had an open record request pending at TDHCA for a copy of their “Previously Weatherized Units” database. This database is used by TDHCA to keep track of the weatherization activities of its subcontractors. As part of our American Recovery and Reinvestment Act accountability initiative, we’d like to keep track […]
Read moreCity of Houston weatherization jobs have not been in low-income communities
July 6, 2010 3 Comments
The 2009 Recovery Act increased the funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Texas by 2500%. This program funds local agencies to provide minor home repairs to low-income Texans. The Recovery Act was intended to create jobs in the communities most impacted by the recession. The Federal Office of Management and Budget, in a […]
Read moreTexas failing to spend federal funds for foreclosure-impacted communities
June 30, 2010 6 Comments
New report finds that millions are at risk of being returned to the federal government Austin, TX – Texas may be forced to return an estimated $42 million in unspent federal funds meant to stabilize foreclosure-impacted communities, unless state and local agencies begin properly utilizing the funds, according to a report released today by the […]
Read moreDon’t bypass low income homeowners in weatherization program
June 8, 2010 Comments Off
The GAO recently issued its bimonthly report of activities funded by the Recovery Act (ARRA) in Texas, including a discussion of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). The good news for TDHCA is that the GAO stated ” TDHCA has internal controls for WAP to help ensure that Recovery Act funds are spent according to program […]
Read moreDon’t Allow Lenders to Ignore the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program
March 5, 2010 2 Comments
Background Since May 2009 the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTAF) has required purchasers of foreclosed properties (usually the lender) to assume the leases of tenants residing in the property. Tenants without leases must be given at least 90 days notice to vacate. This law was passed to address the plight of renters who were […]
Read moreSlow start to weatherization programs: Not just Texas
February 23, 2010 1 Comment
On Tuesday the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General added to the recent parade of commentary regarding the slow start of the Weatherization Assistance Program, pointing out that as of December, nationally only about 5% of the total housing units scheduled to be eventually weatherized had been completed. As previously commented on Texas Housers, […]
Read moreTDHCA: Trying to make the best of a bad LIHTC thing
November 11, 2009 1 Comment
One of the Recovery Act programs we’re watching is the Housing Tax Credit Exchange program, a program supporting the production of affordable multifamily housing. This program builds on the infrastructure and processes of the traditional Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. In the LIHTC program, investors receive tax credits for funding the construction of […]
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