Shaun Donovan

Shaun Donovan, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary, said it is crucial for Congress to approve aid for Sandy victims in order for storm-affected residents to begin planning their rebuilding, WNYC reported. Though immediate concerns, such as getting the displaced back home, are a top priority, long-term issues, such as climate change and where to rebuild, remain as well.

“One of the things the President has made clear to me is we have to rebuild not exactly what was there before,” Donovan told WNYC. “We have to rebuild smarter and stronger to make sure that we minimize the enormous damage to people’s lives and their families and their communities that we saw in this storm.” [more]

Co-op city

Co-op City, a 15,000-unit affordable housing community in the Bronx, has secured a massive refinancing which will allow it to continue to remain affordable for many years to come.

The community’s mortgage has been refinanced by Wells Fargo for $621 million, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency said. The loan is the largest ever insured by HUD and the only loan it has insured on a co-op property. The complex is home to more than 57,000 residents. [more]

Shaun Donovan

The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of FHA-insured mortgages for homeowners in the New York region, the agency said today.

The measure applies to homes across New York City and Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties, and comes as a result of President Barack Obama’s disaster declaration for areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. [more]

From left: First Residential Vice President Guillermina Chaux and a block in Jamaica (credit: Google)

Queens led the city in residential foreclosures during the economic downturn, and once again lenders are having trouble in the borough that saw an uptick in foreclosure filings in the first quarter of the year.

A survey by The Real Deal of Queens’ most active lenders of loans insured by the U.S. Federal Housing Administration, a division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, found several with delinquency rates above the norm; but one lender stood out for having far more defaults than the others. [more]

Nationwide housing starts slipped down 1.1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 746,000 units, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau tallies. This news follows a decline in May and a 6.9 percent increase in June. The July numbers show a 21.5 percent year-over-year increase in housing starts.

However, with the decline in housing starts came a 6.8 percent rise, since June, in building permits for planned new-home projects, to a rate of 812,000 — a 29.5 percent year-over-year increase. Permits come before a construction project would get underway. [more]

Rob Astorino, county executive

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development is accusing Westchester County of violating a settlement connected to a 2009 discrimination suit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The settlement stipulated that Westchester needed to provide more affordable housing, which it has done, but also that it should analyze the ways in which zoning in the county potentially encouraged racial discrimination — something Westchester has thus far failed to do. But perhaps more importantly, the case has ignited a debate about the role of the federal government in local housing issues.

HUD is withholding more than $12 million in funds for local projects until Westchester complies, and is threatening to fine the county for being in contempt. Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s office filed a motion asking a federal judge to compel the county to “cooperate more fully.” [more]

In May sales of new single-family homes jumped 7.6 percent, month-over-month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000, U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development numbers reveal. The data, released today, also show a 19.8 percent increase, year-over-year.

“May’s sales report is a welcome sign that the market has returned to a more solid growth path following lackluster reports in March and April, and is keeping in touch with our expectations for continued, steady improvement through the end of this year,” David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, said in a separate statement. [more]

Sales of new single-family homes rose 3.3 percent month-over-month in April 2012 and 9.9 percent year-over-year, according to a release issued by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. April saw new home sales at a seasonally adjusted rate of 343,000 units.

“Today’s report is representative of the kind of modest but consistent gains that we expect to see in new-home sales through the remainder of 2012,” said David Crowe, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, in a separate release. [more]

U.S. housing starts grew 2.6 percent in April compared to the month before, hitting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 717,000 units, according to data released today by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The data also shows a 29.9 percent increase above the April 2011 rate. [more]

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is pushing for mortgage refinancing reform and supporting a proposed bill to eliminate certain refinancing barriers, according to DS News. The Federal Housing Administration convened with the Senate Banking Committee yesterday where Donovan made his case that lower fees, simpler underwriting guidelines and manual appraisals for borrowers would increase refinance opportunities for homeowners. [more]