Freddie Mac announced that the company plans to offer at least $3 billion in Single-Family affordable housing bonds. This new bond program will support affordable homeownership and serve historically underserved markets. To underscore this effort, the company will offer approximately $285 million in Uniform Mortgage-Backed Securities™ backed by loans purchased through its Home Possible program.

As Democrats work to reduce the $3.5 trillion topline of their reconciliation measure, transportation analysts worry dollars for transit and high speed rail will be a target. The House budget reconciliation measure allocated $57.3 billion to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, including $10 billion for transit and $10 billion for high-speed rail. The House is also considering a Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill that included $550 billion in new spending for transportation and infrastructure.

Last month, the Expanding Black Business Credit Initiative launched the Black Vision Fund with $24.5 million to increase the available funding to seven minority-focused financial institutions that make up the initiative. The ultimate goal is to reduce the racial wealth gap through CDFIs with a proven track record of lending to black businesses.

More than $1 billion in property tax revenues flowed into Chicago's tax increment finance districts in 2020, reaching an all-time high. The burst of additional TIF revenue will ease the city's budget crisis by allowing Mayor Lori Lightfoot to declare $271.6 million in TIF funds to be in surplus, sending $67 million to the city's corporate fund and $150 million to the Chicago Public Schools, with the remaining amount heading to other taxing districts.

The Carmel City Council unanimously voted to approve $49.5 million in developer-backed bonds to support a transformation of the former Hamilton Crossing retail center into the Republic Airways headquarters, training facility, and hotel for employees and guests. The bonds, to be repaid through tax increment financing, will finance two parking garages planned as part of the project. The $200 million Republic Airways project is expected to bring 1,900 new jobs to Carmel.

To boost minority participation in the industry, U.S. Bank and Enterprise Community Partners (ECP) in July announced a $30 million bond to provide loans to black, indigenous, and other housing developers of color. The bond was issued by ECP's CDFI Enterprise Community Loan Fund and is being touted as the first racial equity bond issued by a CDFI. U.S. Bank served as a structuring agent and advisor, and also agreed to buy the first $10 million of the bond.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $61 million for 10 pilot projects that will deploy new technology to transform thousands of homes and workplaces into state-of-the-art, energy-efficient buildings. These Connected Communities can interact with the electrical grid to optimize their energy consumption which will substantially decrease their carbon emissions and cut energy costs.

A new $287 million development coming to the E-470 corridor in Aurora will bring nearly 5,000 new homes and 53 acres of parks and open space to the area. The Piper Sandler Special District Group helped secure funding for the development. Construction is expected to start in 2022 with completion expected by 2032.

Congressmen Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Filemon Vela (D-TX) introduced the bipartisan Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act, which would combat foreign interference in America's agriculture supply chain through reforms to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Entrepreneurial minded, finance/economic development executive is needed to lead the Tucson Industrial Development Authority ("Tucson IDA"), in concert with its Board of Directors. This is a new position, and will lead the overall growth of the Tucson IDA with the strategic guidance and support of the Board members. Application deadline is October 29, 2021.

MWCDP is seeking an impassioned, motivated Business Services Director with the potential to become our Executive Director within 24-36 months. The selected candidate can expect immediate, substantial organizational investment in their professional development.

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