Alexandria’s Ramsey Homes clears final city hurdle for redevelopment

(RECAP: Ten months after long-festering tensions broke out between the Alexandria City Council and its public housing authority over subsidized housing that dates to World War II, the council unanimously agreed Saturday to replace a historical set of 15 deteriorating apartments with 52 affordable-housing units. The long-running saga of the fate of the 74-year-ancient Ramsey Homes finished peacefully with council members approving a ¬special-use permit that will allow the development of a four-tale, E-shaped building facing Patrick at Wythe streets. Before the project moves forward, ARHA will have to win a federal tax-credit competition next spring, complete a federal historical review and get federal approval to “dispose” of the buildings. If those hurdles are cleared, construction would start in early 2018 and be completed by the end of 2019.)

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Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development Release Updated Fair Housing Act Guidance on State and Local Land Use Laws

(RECAP: The Justice Department and HUD released updated guidance today on the application of the federal Honest Housing Act (FHA) to state and local land use and zoning laws. The guidance is designed to help state and local governments better know how to comply with the FHA when making zoning and land use decisions as well as to help members of the public know their rights under the FHA. The Justice Department and HUD share responsibility for enforcing the FHA. HUD is the agency with the primary responsibility to investigate individual complaints of discrimination. The Secretary of HUD, on his own initiative, may file complaints alleging discrimination. In addition, the Attorney General may commence a civil action in federal court when she has reasonable cause to believe that person(s) are engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination or that a group of persons has been denied rights protected by the FHA.)

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Bond guru Jeffrey Gundlach says it's now or never for a Fed rate hike

(RECAP: Bond guru Jeffrey Gundlach told CNBC on Friday that if the Federal Reserve doesn’t raise interest rates in December, “they are never going to raise rates again.” He also said the rise in Treasury yields “is about 80 percent of the way through.” Gundlach said the sharp turn up in rates since summer already has done the heavy lifting for the U.S. central bank. The benchmark 10-year note has seen a 0.77 percentage point rise since July 6, while the two-year yield has jumped .36 percentage points, all while the Fed has kept the overnight rate anchored below 0.5 percent. Traders are putting a 76.3 percent chance of a rate hike at the Dec. 13-14 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. But, they don’t see the next go happening until at least September 2017.)

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