NeighborWorks America released highlights from its first national housing survey. Chief among the findings is that five years after the deepest housing crisis since the Great Depression -- which triggered the foreclosure of nearly a million homes every year since - most adults have maintained a positive, but grounded, view of homeownership: While the vast majority (88 percent) said owning their own home is an important element of their "American dream," a healthy 55 percent also said they would not feel any less successful if they did not.  MORE

(Courtesy of New York Times): The Justice Department announcement, expected this week, will detail how the government will divide the record $13 billion JP Morgan Chase payout, with $4 billion directed to struggling homeowners. Under the settlement, the people briefed on the deal said, JPMorgan will have to hire an independent monitor to oversee the distribution of the $4 billion in relief. MORE

(Courtesy of Charlotte Observer): The Wall Street-backed investment firms that have bought Charlotte homes by the hundreds are moving with unusual speed to evict their new renters when payments don't come in as expected. Court documents and interviews with more than a half-dozen current and former tenants show these new companies have brought with them an aggressive stance toward collections that has caught longtime renters by surprise.  It's the latest sign of how Wall Street's entry into the local single-family home market has transformed that corner of Charlotte's housing sector. MORE

(Courtesy of NHC): HUD announced that it will extend the public comment period on the proposed changes to the Housing Counseling Program regulations. The extended deadline is now December 12. NHC will submit comments on the proposed rule through the National Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization Task Force. The proposed rule has broad implications for organizations doing housing counseling through HUD's Housing Counseling Program as well as in conjunction with other major HUD programs such as the HOME and CDBG programs.  See HUD Office of Housing Counseling "Frequently Asked Questions" guide on Housing Counselor Certification proposed rule HERE.

(Courtesy of HUD): HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, recently unveiled the Location Affordability Portal (LAP), a cost calculation tool that allows users to estimate housing and transportation costs for neighborhoods across the country. The LAP will help consumers and communities better understand the combined costs of housing and transportation associated with living in a specific region, street, or neighborhood and make better-informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest. MORE

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launched a tool to help consumers find local housing counseling agencies to answer their questions or address their concerns. The Bureau is releasing the tool in advance of the January 2014 effective dates for its mortgage rules. The Bureau also published guidance for lenders on how to provide mortgage applicants with a list of local homeownership counseling organizations. MORE

DeKalb County recently launched a pilot program featuring an alternative board-up system designed to look like traditional windows in order to provide clear views inside a property that plywood would not allow. During the pilot program, DeKalb County will evaluate its performance and could consider changes to county code upon a favorable review.  For more information, contact Marcus Kellum, Code Compliance Administrator, at 404-687-3711.  Learn more about SecureView. 

(Courtesy of HUD): The nation's supply of affordable rentals is shrinking. Nearly one out of three homes with a monthly rent of less than $400 in 1999 - affordable to people working full time at minimum wage - had left the affordability stock by 2009.  Some of these homes were lost through conversion from subsidized to market-rate rentals, from year-round to seasonal uses, or from rentals to ownership. Demolition and abandonment, largely the result of unmet capital needs, claimed others. Although new rental housing is being constructed, these new units, with national median rents reaching $1,000 and more, are generally not affordable to low-income (and even some moderate-income) renters.  The nation's stock of government-subsidized affordable rentals represents a taxpayer-funded investment worth billions of dollars. As Michael Bodaken of the National Housing Trust puts it, "[I]t's less expensive, and smarter," to preserve the affordable housing stock that the nation has already paid to construct. MORE