(RECAP: HUD announced today that it is making $37.3 million available to fight housing discrimination under HUD’s 2016 Honest Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This year’s three funding notices support a variety of vital honest housing activities, including honest housing testing in the rental and sales market, public education efforts, capacity building, and education and outreach activities. The categories of grants announced today are: Education and Outreach Initiative grants (EOI) – $7,450,000 available, Honest Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI) – $500,000 available and Private Enforcement Initiative grants (PEI) – total multi-year funding is $29,375,000.)

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(RECAP: It is the No. 1 barrier to entry for young, would-be homebuyers: credit. Millennials are the first generation to come of age in a post-nearly-apocalyptic housing market, where lenders, eight years later, are still paying billions in reparations for mortgage misconduct and outright fraud. Millennial homebuyers are also paying a price. “The mortgage industry is poised to experience a monumental shift as more millennial homebuyers start to enter the market,” said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy at Ellie Mae. “There are roughly 87 million would-be homebuyers in the millennial generation and 91 percent of them say they intend to own a home one day.” Millennials are even starting to go to the suburbs, and in fact, last year marked a turning point, where urban centers reached “peak millennial,” according to a new study from Dowell Myers, a professor of urban plotting and demography at the USC Price School of Public Policy.)

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(RECAP: The major apartment owner and operator bought a five-community apartment portfolio in the Richmond area, with plans to keep the units affordable. But, the company will make some exterior and interior upgrades that will bring the total acquisition cost closer to $72 million. “Our hope with this acquisition is to help the State of Virginia preserve affordable housing for its police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses and all other members of the middle class,” said Rick Band, a senior vice president of CAPREIT. “The apartment industry in Virginia, like many in the nation, is booming, resulting in the renovation of many apartment communities into Class A assets. But middle-class families, who can’t afford luxury rents, still need a reputable home that won’t price them out of the city. These communities do just that, and we intend to keep it that way.”)

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