The scope of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) includes a variety of programs, including Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance, affordable housing assistance, community development grants, secondary market support, and fair housing oversight. Since its creation in 1965, HUD has been a vehicle for addressing the most important domestic crises, whether they be natural disasters, human-engineered financial instability, or other challenges, and has been a critical source of financing in times of economic distress.
Navigating HUD Programs provides a guide to working with this crucial agency, and this second edition includes new chapters and numerous updates to cover changes since the first edition. These changes include the growth of the FHA PILOT program to accommodate Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) tax and transaction requirements, which has become standard, and the FHA Insured Lending guide known as the MAP Guide, which was overhauled to incorporate it. Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) evolved from an unshaped hope of reform to a program that changed the face and future of public housing and refinanced "orphan" rental assistance programs such as 236, Moderate Rehabilitation, Rent Supplement, and Flexible Subsidy, and introduced the power to finance rehabilitations for 202 elderly projects with year-to-year Project Rental Assistance Contracts (PRACs). This second edition has new chapters to address these material changes.
McGovern, Julie S.: - Julie S. McGovern is a member of Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC, whose practice focuses on affordable housing development and operation, with a concentration on public housing authorities and rural lending. Julie provides comprehensive representation in mixed-finance transactions, from negotiation of the development agreement, through multiple phased closings and regulatory and legal issues arising in operation of mixed finance units. Julie also represents clients on the use public housing funding streams, such Operating, Capital, HOPE VI and Choice Neighborhood Funds, both on their own and used in conjunction with low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and bonds, local loan programs, other HUD financing, such as HOME and CDBG Funds, project based-vouchers, and FHA-insured financing, as well as Federal Home Loan Bank's affordable housing program (AHP). She also has extensive experience in advising PHAs on the structuring and use of public housing affiliates, procurement, and conflict of interest. A member of the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law and a member of the National Association of Housing and Community Development Officials (NAHRO) and the Housing and Development Law Institute (HDLI), Julie regularly speaks and advises clients on the complex issues arising in low-income housing tax credit transactions, the use of affiliates in public housing development, modifying mixed-finance transactions for the operating subsidy and asset-based management requirements, project-based vouchers, and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Julie is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and the University of Virginia.
Weidenfeller, George: - George Weidenfeller is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Telesis Corp. He is responsible for legal representation of Telesis relating to the finance, development and management of affordable and mixed used housing developments. Prior to joining Telesis, George served as Counsel at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust in Washington, D.C. George was previously a partner in the law firm of Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC, where he represented owners, developers, managers, lenders, and public housing authorities on residential development; FHA transactions; asset management; program, regulatory and fair housing enforcement; Federal procurement; ethics; and personnel law. He was previously a member of the Goulston and Storrs Real Estate group, with a particular focus on Affordable Housing and Economic Development. He served for more than 16 years as Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel, in the HUD Office of General Counsel in Washington D.C., under six HUD secretaries. During that period, he provided substantive legal advice on all HUD programs, supervised a staff of more than 700 professionals, and managed a budget of more than $75 million. Before becoming Deputy General Counsel, he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Housing and a staff attorney for HUD in Boston and Boston Redevelopment Authority. George is a Past Chair of the ABA Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum Governing Committee and chairs the Forum's HUD Practice Committee; Current Chair of the Forum Leadership Advisory Board and ice Chair of the SBA Multifamily Section on Senior and Assisted Living Housing. He is a member of the ULI Workforce Housing Council; and is on the National Housing Conference Board of Trustees and a member of the Board of the National Leased Housing Association and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association. He holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, JD from Suffolk Law, MPA from the University of Southern California, and an MLT (tax) from Georgetown Law.
