NewletterV1N3

2009 Charles L. Farris Award

Southwest NAHRO has been honoring the work and dedication of Mr. Charles L. Farris going on 26 years by awarding a deserving individual the “Charles L. Farris” Award each year during the Southwest NAHRO Annual Conference. The 2009 Southwest NAHRO Annual Conference will be a special presentation as the conference is being held in the home town of Charles L. Farris, St. Louis, Missouri. Known by many in the industry as “Mr. Urban Renewal” because of his extensive involvement in the rejuvenation of St. Louis, Charley, as he was affectionately known, has a career in housing and community development that spanned nearly four decades.From 1949 – 1953, Farris was the Deputy Director of HUD’s predecessor agency, the Housing and Home Finance Agency. He then moved to St. Louis to work for the Land Clearance and Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) where he was the Executive Director from 1953 – 1989, serving under five of the city’s mayors. More >>

      Stimulus Agreement
Reached

House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on the final version of a $789 billion economic recovery package. The bill is expected to be cleared by both chambers and sent to President Obama for his signature. In a major victory for our industry, the conference committee-approved version of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes funding for:

         • $4 billion Public Housing Capital Fund

         • $1 billion Development Block Grants

         • $2 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program

         • $1.5 billion for the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program.

         • $2.25 billion in HOME program funding, although it appears that just $250 million of this funding will be distributed to states and local governments through the regular HOME program formula.

HUD's Final Rule for Refinement of Income and Rent Determination

On January 27, 2009 HUD issued its final rule (Federal Register) on Upfront Income Verification (UIV) and Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) when verifying employment and income of program participants.
The purpose of HUD's EIV System is to make integrated income data available from one source, via the Internet, for PHAs to use to improve income verification during required income reexaminations.
UIV is the verification of income, before or during a family reexamination, through an independent source that systematically and uniformly maintains income information in computerized form for a large number of individuals. PHAs should put forth a conscience effort to ensure that they use all available resources, including UIV techniques to obtain verification of tenant-reported (unreported or underreported) income. More>>

RON SIMS TO BE NOMINATED AS HUD'S DEPUTY SECRETARY

President Barack Obama announced he intends to nominate Ron Sims, County Executive of King County, Washington, to become the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As the Deputy Secretary, Sims will be charged with managing HUD's day-to-day operations, a nearly $39 billion annual operating budget and the agency's 8,500 employees. Read on>>

2009 Annual Southwest Maintenance Workshop

The 2009 Southwest NAHRO Maintenance Conference is less than a month away so if you haven’t registered yet you still have time! But hurry because the hotel cutoff date is February 26, 2009. The conference includes 3 full days of training on topics such as: Re-Keying Kwickset Locks, HVAC, Electrical, Appliance Repair, Asset Management, UPCS / REAC Inspections, Procurement for Maintenance & Managers, Drywall Repair, Texturing Applications, Plumbing Repairs, Tile & Flooring Repairs, Landscaping, General Carpentry, Audit Preparation & IRS Update, HQS Inspection Refresher Course plus much more! You won’t want to miss our “Who Wants to be a Maintenance Millionaire” production provided by the LHC Krewe. For more information on the conference visit swnahro.org. With all the fun maintenance activities we hope you will take time to enjoy some of the wonderful tourist sites that Bossier City has to offer. More>>