(RECAP: On January 19, HUD published interim guidance on how states should comply with the Affirmatively Furthering Honest Housing (AFFH) rule until HUD finalizes the state Assessment of Honest Housing (AFH) Tool. HUD also provided an update on its efforts to finalize the state Assessment Tool and the other assessment tools it is developing for other HUD program participants. The AFFH final rule required state agencies to submit an AFH no later than 270 calendar days prior to the start of the program year beginning January 1, 2018, for which a new consolidated plot is due. But, it also stated that no AFH will be due before the publication of the Assessment Tool applicable to the program participant, and that HUD must provide program participants a minimum of nine months after the publication of their Assessment Tool before their AFH is due.)

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(RECAP: A Richmond-based development company known for historic restoration has pulled the plug on a plotted $30 million project in downtown Suffolk. Tom Dickey, principal of The Monument Cos., said in an email Friday that the choice was a result of uncertainty about tax credits on which the company relies. It’s unclear whether the company will revisit the project. Over the course of the last six months, he wrote, a General Assembly joint subcommittee on taxes discussed implementing caps on the state Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program. The program, he said, spurs private investment in rural and urban localities across Virginia. Last spring, The Monument Cos. and Sensei Development proposed building at least 233 loft-style apartments, plus office and retail space on the site of a former peanut processing facility known as the Golden Peanut. It was to be built in phases over at least four years.)

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(RECAP: Soon after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, his administration undid one of Barack Obama’s last-minute economic-policy actions: a mortgage-fee cut under a government program that’s well loved with first-time home buyers and low-income borrowers. The new administration on Friday said it’s canceling a reduction in the FHA’s annual fee for most borrowers. The cut would have reduced the annual premium for someone borrowing $200,000 by $500 in the first year. The reversal comes after Trump’s team criticized the Obama administration for adopting new policies as it prepared to leave office. Last week, Obama’s HUD secretary, Julian Castro, said the FHA would cut its fees. The administration didn’t consult Trump’s team before the announcement. Republicans have argued in the past that reductions place taxpayers at risk by lowering the funds the FHA has to deal with mortgage defaults.)

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