Standard and Poor’s Assigns “A” Rating to Bridgeport Housing Authority

Bridgeport Housing Authority received an “A” rating from Standard and Poor’s Ratings Service which identified the agency’s outlook as “good”. The rating is a reflection of strengths identified by Standard and Poor’s including high demand for its services, its strong financial situation and senior management team.

In explaining its rating of the authority, Standard and Poor’s stated the agency’s management team has the ability and experience needed to balance the agency needs of creating new developments and maintaining its current developments. The ratings agency believes the housing authority’s development fund contains enough money ($13.9 million) to maintain its liquidity as it seeks to leverage its existing resources to communities containing its properties. Standard and Poor’s the agency must leverage and diversify its resources if it wants to maintain its rating. Standard and Poor’s expects the agency to create alternative revenue sources through its leveraging efforts.

Home Builders’ Association to Spend Big Money on Lobbying

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) plans to continue its lobbying expenses in 2009 according to its Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Howard, in an interview with the National Journal Magazine.

NAHB spent at least $3.8 million in 2008 from January to September which his higher than the 2007 total of $3.22 million. In the interview Howard said housing must be fixed first to correct the problems in the larger economy.

“When people are losing their home values, they will be less likely to go out and buy a car,” he told the magazine. “So from our perspective if the new administration and new Congress want to fix the economy and get America back to work, they need to fix housing.”

NAHB has joined 600 other organizations to support a lobbying campaign, Fix Housing First, which is designed to get Congress and the administration to address the current housing crisis with recommendations which include:

1. Creating a creditable foreclosure prevention plan that can include allowing judges to set lower mortgage rates;
2. Enhance the Homebuyer Tax Credit; and,
3. Create below market 30-year fixed rate mortgages.

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