WASHINGTON - Four affordable housing developments are recipients of the HUD Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award for excellence in residential housing design. The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in conjunction with the American Institute of Architects, selected Homeless Assistance Center of Dallas, Texas; Project Place - Gatehouse of Boston, Massachusetts; Bridgeton Neighborhood Revitalization of Bridgeton, New Jersey; and Irvington Terrace of Irvine, California.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 20 storm-ravaged counties in Alabama and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following last month's severe storms, flooding, tornadoes and straight-line winds.

WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration today announced details of new efforts to help bring relief to responsible homeowners under the Making Home Affordable Program, including an effort to achieve greater affordability for homeowners by lowering payments on their second mortgages as well as a set of measures to help underwater borrowers stay in their homes.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to three storm-ravaged counties in Arkansas and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following last month's severe storms and tornadoes.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 27 storm-ravaged counties in Georgia and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes from severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds.

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts: Larry EchoHawk, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; Sandra Henriquez, Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Thomas McClellan, Deputy Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy; John Porcari, Deputy Secretary, Department of Transportation.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has produced a video for YouTube and Facebook designed to educate Spanish speaking Hispanic families about their fair housing rights.

WASHINGTON - In the largest single transaction of its 75 year history, the Federal Housing Administration today announced that it has finalized a deal to insure a $756 million mortgage for Capital Health of Trenton, New Jersey. The loan is made possible through the FHA's Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program. It will allow Capital Health to construct a new 223-bed hospital in Hopewell Township to replace the existing Mercer Medical Center.

WASHINGTON - As homeowners and communities throughout the country continue to face devastating consequences from the deep contraction in the economy and the housing market, the Obama Administration today announced a new coordinated effort across federal and state government and the private sector to target mortgage loan modification fraud and foreclosure rescue scams that threaten to hurt American homeowners and prevent them from getting the help they need during these challenging times. The new effort announced today aligns responses from federal law enforcement agencies, state investigators and prosecutors, civil enforcement authorities, and the private sector to protect homeowners seeking assistance under the Administration's Making Home Affordable program from criminal actors looking to perpetrate predatory schemes.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told a Senate appropriations subcommittee today that the Federal Housing Administration needs additional resources to ensure FHA can continue to meet the needs of underserved borrowers during the current mortgage crisis. Donovan also testified that he recently reactivated a program to dispatch teams of investigators to conduct on-site reviews of lenders, especially those whose refinance portfolios are showing signs of distress and abnormally high default rates.

Boston, Mass. - A large, Boston-based real estate corporation, The Community Builders, Inc. (TCB), and nearly two dozen associated property owners have agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty and spend more than $2 million in lead paint abatement work at residential properties to settle an enforcement action brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts: Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services; Phyllis C. Borzi, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security, Department of Labor; Helen R. Kanovsky, General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Rhea Suh, Assistant Secretary for Policy Management and Budget, Department of Interior; and Hilary Tompkins, Solicitor, Departmentof Interior.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan released the following statement today in response to new data suggesting improvements in the housing market. Today, the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD announced an increase in residential home sales in February 2009.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will receive special recognition for promoting the use of energy efficient appliances in public housing units and encouraging public housing authorities across the country to follow "green" building standards.

WASHINGTON - Just over a month after President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban announced today that, subject to HUD approval, public housing authorities can begin spending nearly $3 billion to make significant improvements to tens of thousands of public housing units nationwide. HUD is informing 3,122 local housing authorities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that spending can begin on a backlog of previously underfunded capital improvement projects.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today approved nearly $731 million in funding for 48 States and local communities seeking to recover from the effects of high foreclosures and declining home values. Funded under HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP),these plans will target emergency assistance to particular neighborhoods by acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight (see attached chart).

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts: Susan Burk, Special Representative of the President, with the rank of Ambassador, State Department;Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Michelle J. DePass, Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency; Cynthia J. Giles, Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Environmental Protection Agency; Michael L. Connor, Director, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior; Scott Blake Harris, General Counsel, Department of Energy; and Joseph C. Szabo, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, Department of Transportation.

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts: Brian Kennedy, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Labor; Dana Gresham, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs, Department of Transportation; Peter Kovar, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Sherburne "Shere" Abbott, Nominee for Associate Director of Environment, Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today launched a new website for consumers seeking information about the Obama Administration's Making Home Affordable loan modification and refinancing program. MakingHomeAffordable.gov offers features including interactive self-assessment tools that will empower borrowers to determine if they're eligible to participate and calculate the monthly mortgage payment reductions they could stand to realize under the Making Home Affordable program.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it is charging the developers of three multifamily housing complexes in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with housing discrimination for designing and constructing buildings that failed to accommodate the special needs of elderly and disabled tenants.