Government

In a widely anticipated move, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) was named Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for the 114th Congress, according to an announcement from Shelby's website Thursday.

In a 30-minute speech Thursday morning at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona, President Barack Obama spoke of the progress the housing market has made since 2009 and measures his administration is taking to help everyone achieve homeownership.

Real estate economist and former HUD policy advisor Raphael W. Bostic has been elected as a director on Freddie Mac's board of governors, according to an announcement from the GSE.

President Barack Obama has announced his intention to nominate former Bank of Hawaii CEO Allan Landon to fill one of two available governor positions for the Federal Reserve System on its seven-seat board of governors, according to an announcement from the White House.

FHA raised premiums in response to its declining mortgage insurance fund, which forced the agency to take a $1.7 billion bailout in 2013. Since then, it has rebuilt its capital, spurring some commentators to call for a cut. In a statement, the White House estimated that the reduction will translate to a $900 increase in annual mortgage payments for first-time buyers, with existing homebuyers expected to see similar savings.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro is scheduled to speak at the National Press Club (NPC) luncheon on Tuesday, January 13, to address the state of the housing industry and what HUD's plans are for 2015, the NPC announced on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak about the U.S. housing market at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona, according to multiple reports. Neither the president nor the White House has publicly announced exactly what he will speak about with regards to the housing market on Thursday.

It is not just the larger lenders that are under the microscope, however; a recent multi-million dollar settlement between a lender and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan showed that the smaller lenders cannot escape intense scrutiny from industry regulators.

A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty for his role in a massive tax scheme and for bribing executives at a Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) applicant bank, according to an announcement from Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP).

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on January 21 on whether or not "disparate impact" claims are allowed under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The case scheduled to be heard later this month, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al., v. The Inclusive Community Project, Inc., centers on claims that the Texas state housing department's fixed criteria for approving tax credits for low-income housing developers resulted in the approval of such credits for a larger percentage of developers in areas more heavily populated by minorities than in areas more populated by whites.