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Tag: Department of Housing and Urban Development

  • Minneapolis puts $14 million toward affordable housing projects


    The Minneapolis City Council is allocating $14 million toward nine affordable housing projects, officials said Thursday.

    The city said it’s also giving $1.7 million to two other projects through the Housing Tax Credit program, an initiative managed by the Internal Revenue Service that helps lower taxes for “investors in qualified low-income rental housing.”

    According to the city, the money helps add or preserve nearly 600 affordable homes for Minneapolis residents exiting homelessness.

    Officials said the $14 million comes from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which uses “federal and local funding resources.”

    Projects that apply for funding through the Minneapolis program must ensure that 20% of their units will be affordable to households earning no more than 50% of the area median income. 

    Learn more about the projects that were awarded funding here.

    Mayor Jacob Frey during a news conference on Thursday said the city will have 126 new shelter beds and 123 new units for people experiencing homelessness by the end of the year. 

    “This is a partnership that we’ve got alongside nonprofit partners, the county and the state, because this work does not happen alone,” Frey said.

    Minneapolis officials said that, since 2011, the City Council has allocated nearly $183 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund toward housing projects.

    Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to cap the amount of money communities can use for permanent supportive housing in the next round of grants. Dozens of Minnesota nonprofits and advocates on Monday warned the plans could mean thousands of state residents overcoming homelessness will return to the streets.

    Nick Lentz

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  • Planned federal housing grant cuts will spike homelessness, dozens of Minnesota organizations warn

    Dozens of Minnesota nonprofits and advocates warn that planned federal housing grant changes could mean thousands of Minnesotans overcoming homelessness will return to the streets.

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to cap the amount of money communities can use for permanent supportive housing in the next round of grants for the Continuum of Care program, which is the largest source of funding for homelessness prevention. 

    Chris LaTondresse, president and CEO of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, called it the “backbone” of the nation’s response to homelessness and said 82% of the $48 million Minnesota received last year focused on supportive housing. Under the proposed HUD changes, he said Minnesota could lose half of these dollars, leaving many people displaced. 

    “At a time when we need to be having conversations about how to put taxpayer dollars to their highest and best use, to walk away from the most proven and cost-effective solution we have on homelessness is just a real head scratcher,” LaTondresse said.

    LaTondresse, a former Hennepin County commissioner, said this approach helped the state’s most populous county slash homelessness by 30% in five years. He also said it costs half as much as emergency room visits and shelters, which are the default for people who don’t have supportive housing options. 

    The agency did not respond to WCCO’s request for comment on Monday afternoon. But a spokesperson told The New York Times that “HUD will continue to serve the American people through means-tested measures to encourage self-sufficiency.”

    Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative joined 180 other advocacy groups and nonprofits in signing a letter to the Congressional delegation warning that the cuts to housing support could impact 3,600 Minnesotans and 170,000 Americans nationwide. 

    “We use Continuum of Care funding for critical rental subsidies and supportive services for 103 Minnesotans moving from homelessness to stability,” Jessie Hendel, executive director for Alliance Housing in Minneapolis, said in a news release. “Without these funds, rents will become unaffordable, and formerly homeless individuals will be back on the street.”

    Hendel’s organization manages 370 affordable housing units for people with very low incomes.  

    There is bipartisan concern about the changes to how the grants are awarded. GOP Congressman Pete Stauber of Minnesota’s 8th District joined two dozen other House Republicans late last month in a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner, urging the agency to press pause on the changes for now.

    “We recognize that HUD’s efforts to modernize the CoC program and strengthen performance metrics are rooted in data-driven policymaking and a results-oriented approach. We fully support these goals,” the letter said. “However, substantial changes to the [notice of funding opportunity] process or funding priorities should be implemented carefully to avoid destabilizing programs that serve individuals with severe disabilities related to mental illness, chronic health conditions, or substance use disorders, as well as seniors with disabilities.”

    Minnesota Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are also asking the Trump administration to halt the planned cuts. 

    More than 9,000 Minnesotans experienced homelessness during a single night count last year, according to a report submitted by HUD to Congress last December. And the state had the second-highest rate of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness at that time compared to elsewhere in the country.

    Caroline Cummings

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  • What the Trump administration’s 50-year mortgage plan could mean for homebuyers

    Would a 50-year mortgage make homeownership more affordable? 

    The Trump administration is working on a plan for a mortgage term that spans five decades, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte confirmed this weekend, calling it “a complete game changer” and a “potential weapon in a WIDE arsenal of solutions that we are developing right now.”

    Details are still sparse, but a 50-year loan could meaningfully reshape a housing market where 30 years is the norm. Experts say homebuyers who opt for the longer loan would see lower monthly payments but a dramatic increase in the total cost of the loan.

    “Borrowers might be able to pay less monthly principal and interest, since the loan would be spread out over half a century,” said NerdWallet lending expert Kate Wood in an email. “But the total interest paid over the life of the loan would be staggering, since even with a low rate, you’re looking at 50 years’ worth of interest.”

    Take a homeowner who wants to buy a $400,000 home with a 10% down payment, requiring a $360,000 loan. Even if both 30- and 50-year loans carried the same 6.25% rate — which experts say is unlikely — borrowers choosing the longer term would save only about $250 a month, Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com, told CBS News.

    In reality, rates on 50-year mortgages would probably run higher than 30-year loans, meaning those monthly savings could shrink even further, he added.

    Yet total interest on that same 50-year loan would accrue to about $816,000, almost double the $438,000 in interest paid over a 30-year term, he calculated.

    At the same time, buyers with a 50-year mortgage would build equity far more slowly than those with shorter loans, Wood noted. That’s because a larger share of early payments goes toward interest, leaving less to chip away at the principal.

    “Paying down the loan over so much time could also mean building equity at an incredibly slow pace,” she said. 

    Addressing the affordability crisis

    The 50-year mortgage proposal aims to spur housing demand at a time when many Americans are priced out of the market by high mortgage rates and soaring home values, Berner noted.

    The typical homeowner now spends 39% of their income on housing, well above the 30% affordability threshold recommended by financial experts, according to Redfin.

    Mortgage rates have eased this year but remain above 6%, more than double the pandemic-era lows. Meanwhile, home prices, though slightly down from their peak, averaged $410,800 in the second quarter, about 25% higher than in early 2020, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

    While 15-year mortgages are also available, most homebuyers opt for 30-year loans because the terms allow them to spread out payments over a longer timeframe, lowering monthly costs, according to the personal finance website Bankrate.

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it is “evaluating all options to address housing affordability,” including making mortgages assumable or portable. A White House official added that “President Trump is always exploring new ways to improve housing affordability for everyday Americans.”

    What about the interest rate on a 50-year loan? 

    A half-century mortgage would give Americans an even longer window to pay back their loan, but experts say the monthly savings would be relatively modest because interest rates for 50-year loans would likely be higher than for 30-year terms. 

    That’s because lenders view longer time frames as carrying higher risks of default, notes NerdWallet’s Wood. Likewise, rates for 15-year mortgages are generally lower than for 30-year loans because lenders view the shorter timeframe as less risky.

    The typical 15-year loan today has an interest rate of about 5.6%, according to Bankrate, versus about 6.25% for the 30-year loan.

    Extending loan terms could lift buyer demand, but that might push home prices even higher unless more housing is built, Berner added — erasing any benefit from lower monthly payments.

    “This is not the best way to solve housing affordability,” Berner said.

    Mr. Trump defended the 50-year mortgage in a Fox News interview on Monday after host Laura Ingraham questioned the president over criticisms of the plan. Ingraham noted that some in his MAGA base argue the proposal would benefit banks while making it take longer for Americans to fully own their homes.

    “It’s not even a big deal,” Mr. Trump said in response. “You go from 40 to 50 years, and what it means is you pay something less.” 

    Edited by

    Aimee Picchi

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  • Foreclosures are surging as U.S. homeowners grapple with rising costs

    Kimberly Draxler was in shock when she called her mortgage lender in April and was told her four-bedroom home in Hillview, Kentucky, would be sold out from under her in a matter of days. 

    Though she had been alerted that something might be wrong by a letter in the mail from an attorney offering assistance in warding off foreclosure, she said her lender never informed her that she was about to lose her home. 

    “They never called me and told me they were just going to rip my house right underneath me,” Draxler told CBS News. 

    Draxler’s lender said it notifies all borrowers of a possible foreclosure by mail and by phone throughout the process, in compliance with federal debt collection rules. 

    Before learning that her home was entering foreclosure, Draxler, who is 57 and on disability, said she stayed afloat financially by relying on her son, who contributed $600 a month to help take care of household expenses. But after he moved out in 2024, her bills began to pile up, she told CBS News. Draxler soon fell behind on her mortgage.

    The financial pressures bearing down on Draxler highlight the struggles of homeowners still grappling with the rising cost of everything from housing and groceries to energy bills and insurance coverage. With many households stretched thin, unexpected events such as job loss, unplanned medical expense or even simple car problems can cause people to fall behind on their mortgages.

    “I just couldn’t do it anymore”

    Although foreclosures — which include default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — remain well below their pre-pandemic levels, they are on the rise.

    As of August, foreclosure filings had risen six straights months year-over-year and were up 18% from the same period in 2025, according to property data firm ATTOM. Through June, roughly 188,000 properties had foreclosure filings, putting the U.S. on track to surpass the roughly 322,000 U.S. properties that went into foreclosure in 2024.

    “Paying for the house, the car, the necessity bills — I just couldn’t do it anymore,” said Draxler, who had come close to losing her home in foreclosure on three previous occasions over the last decade. 

    Roughly 94% of mortgage defaults occur after a homeowner loses income to extenuating circumstances, according to The Urban Institute, citing data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

    Rising homeownership costs

    A key factor behind the rise in foreclosure rates is the growing cost home insurance, utilities, property taxes, repairs and other homeownership expenses. For example, single-family homeowners with a mortgage today pay an average of $2,370 a year for property coverage — up nearly 70% from five years ago, according to data from ICE Mortgage Technology. 

    In addition to rising homeowners insurance costs, many households are also contending with exorbitant property taxes as well as elevated interest rates. 

    “All of these rising costs associated with holding a home, you have increasing pressure on existing homeowners to continue to be able to afford and pay for their mortgages,” Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, told CBS News.

    Todd Teta, chief product and technology officer at ATTOM, also cited the recent slowdown in hiring as a factor behind rising mortgage delinquencies, noting that job loss often drives foreclosures.

    A high interest rate environment can be particularly challenging for homeowners with variable-rate loans, which reset at certain intervals in part based on market conditions. That means a homeowner might see a major jump in their monthly mortgage payment if their reset occurs when interest rates are elevated. 

    A narrow escape

    More such loans are now hitting their reset periods, Teta noted, a trend he expects to continue. “While there has been a small dip in interest rates, they remain significantly higher than just a few years ago, so borrowers with upcoming resets are still likely to see sizable payment increases.”

    As for Draxler, she managed to keep her home by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which allows debtors to hold onto their property and pay off debt over time, usually within three to five years. But coming so close to losing her home of more than 30 years continues to weigh on her.

    “I did not want to lose my house,” Draxler said. “I wouldn’t have no place to go.”

    Mary Cunningham

    Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

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  • Government website blames shutdown on

    Ahead of the looming government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday posted a banner in large type on its homepage blaming the shutdown on the “Radical Left,” an allegation that an ethics group said was a “blatant violation” of the Hatch Act. 

    “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands,” the message reads. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”

    A complaint filed Tuesday with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen alleged that the banner on HUD’s website was a “blatant violation” of the Hatch Act, describing it as “highly partisan” and seeking to “idolize the Trump administration…without attributing any blame for the lack of compromise causing the shutdown.”   

    The Hatch Act is a federal law passed in 1939 that “limits certain political activities of federal employees as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs,” according to OSC.

    Its purpose, among other things, according to OSC, is to “ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.”

    “This is such an obvious violation of the Hatch Act that it raises the question: ‘How on Earth does HUD think they can get away with this?’” Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen, who filed the complaint on behalf of his group, said in a statement. “The answer is that the Trump administration has managed to neuter the ethics enforcement offices in the executive branch. Those who are responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act — namely, the Office of Special Counsel, followed by the Office of Government Ethics and the Attorney General’s office — have all been taken over by Trump loyalists or those who are intimidated by Trump.”

    “The sheer crassness of this partisan advertisement by HUD using taxpayer dollars to campaign against Democrats and promote the Trump administration is going to make it exceedingly difficult for even a neutered ethics office to ignore,” Holman added.

    CBS News has reached out to HUD and the White House for comment on Public Citizen’s complaint and Holman’s allegations. 

    The Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal agency that is designed to enforce the Hatch Act, investigate wrongdoing within the executive branch and protect whistleblowers from retaliation.

    Earlier this year, President Trump fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, the head of OSC, and replaced him with acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer. Dellinger sued over the firing, but it was upheld by a federal appeals court. Since returning to office, Mr. Trump has fired more than a dozen federal inspectors general who are tasked with investigating wrongdoing at government agencies.

    The shutdown, set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, comes after the Senate failed to push through a short-term funding bill that passed the House earlier this month.

    Democrats have called for the bill to include a permanent extension of tax credits passed in 2021 for those receiving health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, as well as a rollback of Medicaid cuts that were part of Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that passed this summer.

    Some Republican lawmakers have argued that the “big, beautiful bill” did not cut Medicaid, but instead that it eliminated fraud within the program.

    “We’re not cutting Medicaid,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in June, prior to the passage of the “big, beautiful bill.” “What we’re doing is strengthening the program. We’re reducing fraud, waste and abuse that is rampant in Medicaid to ensure that that program is essential for so many people.”

    Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties have cast blame on the other over the possibility of a shutdown. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night that “Republicans have until midnight to cut the garbage and get serious,” while Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the shutdown “totally avoidable,” adding that “if the government shuts down, it is on the Senate Democrats.”

    Caitlin Yilek,

    Melissa Quinn and

    Jacob Rosen

    contributed to this report.

    Faris Tanyos

    Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.

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  • How would a government shutdown affect people applying for mortgages?

    Americans worried that a looming U.S. government shutdown could derail their plans to take out a mortgage or refinance their home loan can breathe easy — mostly. Housing experts says lenders will continue processing mortgages as usual even if federal agencies close shop, while noting that a shutdown could lead to hitches for borrowers applying for government-backed loans. 

    “If you’re expecting to close in a week or a month, there could be some slight delay,” said Jeff Ostrowski, a housing analyst at Bankrate. “But I think for most people, it’s probably going to be a blip more than a real deal killer.”

    The bulk of the mortgage market consists of loans originated by private lenders. But some government agencies have a hand in the process, such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insuring private loans or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) managing flood insurance policies.

    Impact on government-backed loans

    Borrowers applying for a conventional mortgage issued by a bank, credit union or other private lender are unlikely to encounter problems if the government closes shop. However, those applying for government-backed loans from agencies like the FHA, Department of Veteran Affairs an Department of Agriculture (USDA) could face minor delays lining up their mortgages, Holden Lewis, a senior writer at NerdWallet, told CBS MoneyWatch in an email.

    The National Association of Realtors (NAR) notes in an online explainer that the FHA will continue to approve most single-family mortgage loans in the event of a shutdown. The VA will also continue to guarantee home loans, but worker furloughs at the agency could lead to processing delays, the group said. 

    “It creates a little bit of extra stress and uncertainty, but I haven’t seen a shutdown in either of those programs” when politics led the government to shut it doors in the past, Ostrowski said.

    The VA and FHA account for up to a quarter of all mortgage applications, according to Redfin. NAR advises U.S. veterans applying for or refinancing a government-backed loan to check with their lender on how long it will take to complete the process if the government shuts down. 

    Another segment of the housing market that could feel the impact of a shutdown are people applying for mortgages through the USDA, which issues loans to buyers in eligible towns and rural areas. NAR said the USDA will halt issuance of new direct and guaranteed home loans during a shutdown. Pre-scheduled direct‑loan closings will also be postponed.

    The USDA did not respond to a request for comment. The VA referred CBS News to its shutdown contingency plan, which says the agency will continue issuing “housing benefits.”

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored entities that support roughly 70% of the mortgage market, don’t rely on federal funding and have continued to operate during past shutdowns. However, they could face bottlenecks if federal agencies close down this week, said Anthony Smith, an applied economist at Realtor.com.

    “They rely on other federal processes like the IRS for tax transcript verifications,” he said. “So if the IRS shuts down or significantly cuts back on its transcript services, then Fannie and Freddie might be able to approve a loan, but they can’t get the final verification piece.”

    Possible flood insurance delays

    People purchasing a house in a flood zone could also face delays during a government shutdown, experts told CBS News. That’s because homebuyers applying for a federally backed mortgage in high-risk flood areas are required to get flood insurance. A shutdown could hamper the FEMA-administered National Flood Insurance Program, which underwrites more than 4 million flood insurance policies in the U.S.

    “The government shutdown could complicate your closing because it might be harder to just secure flood insurance,” Ostrowski told CBS News.

    FEMA did not respond to a request for comment. 

    According to the White House, the flood insurance program cannot sell new or renewal insurance policies during a government shutdown.”A potential lapse of the NFIP authorization would negatively impact many thousands of Americans who would be left unable to renew/transfer their coverage or to buy the required coverage for their homes,” a White House official said in an email. 

    Mary Cunningham

    Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

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  • HUD refuses to release Secretary Marcia Fudge's email address in response to ‘Reason’ FOIA request

    HUD refuses to release Secretary Marcia Fudge's email address in response to ‘Reason’ FOIA request

    Want to know Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge’s government email address? Too bad, it’s a secret.

    In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Reason, HUD released a list of email addresses for all political appointees—with two exceptions. The agency redacted HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman’s addresses, citing an exemption from releasing any records that would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

    “The interest of the general public in reviewing those portions of government documents does not outweigh the individuals’ right to privacy,” Sandra Wright, the chief of HUD’s FOIA office, wrote.

    The withholdings are an unusual and concerning attempt to conceal one of the most basic pieces of information about a public servant: their contact info.

    Glancing at the consistent format of every other address on the HUD list, one could make a reasonable assumption about Fudge’s address, but one would likely be wrong. You see, cabinet members and high-ranking officials often use pseudonymous or alias email accounts.

    For example, while he was vice president, Joe Biden used at least three pseudonyms—”Robin Ware,” “Robert L. Peters,” and “JRB Ware”—on emails that mixed family and government business.

    The practice has been fairly widespread since the Clinton administration. Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Lisa Jackson used the alias “Richard Windsor” and her private email address in communications with lobbyists. Former Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch also used alias email addresses. Trump-Era EPA administrator Scott Pruitt had four government email addresses.

    Administrations have defended using alternate email addresses as necessary for high-level political appointees because of the flood of emails to their public inboxes. However, the practice worries transparency advocates and watchdog groups because it creates doubts over whether FOIA offices are performing complete searches, and whether communications are being properly archived.

    Reason was curious about what pseudonyms high-ranking Biden officials are using, so we filed FOIA requests in September of last year to cabinet-level agencies requesting the email addresses for all political appointees, including pseudonyms. To its credit, HUD is the only agency so far that has produced any documents.

    Reason is filing a FOIA appeal to challenge the redactions. While officials may argue they need a secret inbox to get work done, convenience is not a factor in the balancing test between the public’s right to know and the privacy interests of government employees. Notably, HUD does not consider the release of dozens of other political appointees’ email addresses a privacy concern.

    HUD’s position is also undermined by the fact that other agencies have turned over similar records in response to FOIA requests. The Health and Human Services Department released former Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ secret email address to the Associated Press in 2013.

    HUD’s public affairs office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    C.J. Ciaramella

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