• The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub.L. 116-136) was signed into law on March 27, and allows Multifamily borrowers to request forbearance if they are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. The USDA Rural Development’s Office of Multi-Family Housing has done an update to the Section 538 Forbearance Guidance, which includes: measurements to keep Section 538 Mortgages current, guidelines for Forbearance of Standalone Section 538 Loans, and guidelines for Forbearance of Section 538 Loans with Subordinate Section 515 Loan(s). Click here to view more details and access the Sample Forbearance Agreement form.
• HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing has posted a recording of the Multifamily Housing stakeholder call held on Thursday, April 16^th, which includes answers to many questions HUD has received about tenant income during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically with regards to unemployment payments and the stimulus tax credit.  HUD has recently updated the Multifamily Q&A for COVID-19 with an answer on page 9: Household stimulus payments of up to $1,200 (which is technically an advance tax credit) and the temporary $600 per week federal enhancement to unemployment insurance provided by the CARES Act are not to be included in calculations of income.  However, HUD notes that regular payments of unemployment insurance (issued by the state) are treated as income, as is customary under program rules. Click here to access the stakeholder call recording. Click here to view the updated Multifamily Q&A for COVID-19. Below is the recording agenda:

  0:00-0:25 –  Introduction by Bob Iber

  0:25- 4:40 –  FHA Commissioner & Acting Deputy Secretary Brian Montgomery

  4:40 – 10:50 –  Toby Halliday with asset management updates

  10:50-15:00 –  Bob Iber addressing forbearance

  15:00 – 21:50 –  Pat Burke & Tom Bernaciak with production updates

  21:50- 25:11 –  Tom Davis with recapitalization updates

• HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing released an updated COVID-19 Q&A Guidance. A new section has been created regarding the implementation of the CARES Act and the resources available for response. Additionally, a portion of the questions on Resident Health, Asset Management, Multi-family Productions, and Property Reviews have been updated with new guidance. Click here to access the updated Multi-family Housing COVID-19 Q&A Guidance.

These resources, and many others, are also posted to the NAHMA Coronavirus Resources webpage at https://www.nahma.org/coronavirus-information-and-resources/.

• LIHTC Update: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued policy updates that impact LIHTC: IRS provides Short-Term Extensions to certain Housing Credit deadlines due to COVID-19, IRS releases guidance to allow partnerships to amend 2018 and 2019 Tax Returns and benefit from Bonus Depreciation changes in CARES Act, and May applicable rates. Click here to access more details and links for these LIHTC updates.