United States: Summary Of HUD’s LEAN 232 Program E-Mail Blast: Office Of Residential Care Facilities (ORCF), January 28, 2014

In an effort to summarize the highlights of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) LEAN E-mail Blasts that we receive, and rarely have time to review in a timely fashion, we at Pepper are providing this quick synopsis of the latest LEAN update. Our aim is to provide pertinent information succinctly as a roadmap to the LEAN E-mail Blasts, not to replace the LEAN E-mail Blasts. We hope you find these summaries helpful. A link to the complete January 28, 2014 LEAN Blast can be found here.

Roger Lewis Now Acting Director of ORCF; Patrick Berry Acting Director of Production

For the past year and a half, Kelly Haines served as the Director of the Office of Residential Care Facilities (ORCF); starting this month Kelly is the Multifamily Director of the Fort Worth and Kansas City HUB Offices. Roger Lewis is now serving as the Acting Director of ORCF, moving over from his previous position as Director of the Production Division of ORCF.

Patrick Berry has taken Roger's old position and is the Acting Director of Production of ORCF; Patrick was most recently a workload manager in the Production Division of ORCF.

Clarification on Criteria for 24 CFR 232.7 (Formerly 232.3) 'Bathroom' Waiver Reviews

The November 12, 2013 E-mail Blast provided the requisite criteria for expedited reviews of bathroom waivers. If a waiver request does not meet the criteria detailed in the November 12, 2013 E-mail Blast, the waiver must be sent to the assigned ORCF Underwriter for review, along with the documentation outlined in the June 27, 2012 E-mail Blast. Ensuring submission of the required documentation will prevent delays in reviewing the waiver request. Additionally, if the waiver request involves a regulatory matter, the approval must still be issued by the FHA Commissioner. We're reminded that some waiver requests will not be granted.

Improved Section 232 Program Web Site Now Available

In the September 26, 2013 E-mail Blast, ORCF indicated a redesigned Section 232 Web site was being developed. The newly formatted Web site is now available. Content that was previously buried under layers of random clicks and links is now found on the front page. Lists are now organized alphabetically(!) or by transaction stage, and indexes have been created to make information easier to locate. Redirector links have been placed on the old pages to help you find the content in its new location.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improving the Web site, please send them to ORCFWebTeam@hud.gov.

FROM THE CLOSING CORNER

Firm Commitment Extensions for Projects Without a Closer Already Assigned

For firm commitment extensions for projects that do NOT have an assigned ORCF Closer, send the request to extend on lender letterhead to ORCFCloser@hud.gov.

The lender's request to extend the Firm Commitment must include the reason for the delay and an explanation of how the delay can be resolved during the extension. Amendments extending the Firm Commitment must also include the following statement from MAP Guide Section 11.2(G): "The requested delay is not likely to change significantly the underwriting data on which the commitment was based or to undermine the feasibility of the project due to a change in the market, inflation, or other factors affecting cost."

January LEAN Closer Kaizen

The HUD Closers held a LEAN Kaizen at headquarters earlier this month with a focus on how to improve and streamline the closing process. In the collaborative manner that typifies the evolution of LEAN policy, several lenders and their counsel were invited to participate in part of the discussion. We were fortunate enough to attend the session, and are pleased to report that the Closers had lots of ideas to streamline the closing process. The two topics that garnered the most discussion were (a) revising the requirements for providing draft settlement statements and what HUD is looking for in a settlement statement, and (b) improving the process of how to handle newly discovered litigation and UCC filings. We anticipate new policies and procedures to come out of the Kaizen that will further enhance the LEAN experience.

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