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The Biden administration mounted an aggressive push reshaping national housing policy in a span of 48 hours this past week, replacing a key regulator and pushing a flurry of other changes to try to address growing concerns within and outside the White House about a housing crisis for millions of renters and vulnerable Americans, the Washington Post reported. On Wednesday, the White House named an acting director of the powerful Federal Housing Finance Agency, Sandra L. Thompson, who called out the lack of affordable housing and access to credit for many communities of color. The White House appointed her hours after tossing a Trump appointee. Then on Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended its eviction moratorium by one month. The Biden administration also announced initiatives to quicken the disbursal of rental relief and encourage local governments and courts to prevent evictions. As part of the effort, the White House will convene a summit this Wednesday for “immediate eviction prevention plans” to prevent an “eviction crisis.” Housing has emerged as one of the most unequal and consequential parts of the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Low interest rates, cheap mortgages and bidding wars are fueling a housing boom for wealthier Americans and making homeownership out of reach for many first-time buyers. Meanwhile, housing is a top expense and worry for millions of renters and unemployed workers, and advocates fear a wave of homelessness once the CDC’s final moratorium lifts July 31. Though Congress has allocated roughly $46 billion for emergency rental aid through pandemic-era aid packages, much of that money hasn’t reached tenants. On Thursday, the White House and Treasury Department released new guidance to help streamline application processes, calling for an “all hands-on-deck effort,” which is partly why the White House’s housing summit on Wednesday will bring together 50 cities to discuss plans for preventing evictions. The delays in getting relief in the hands of vulnerable tenants is a key reason advocates were clamoring for an extension to the eviction moratorium.

All 23 of the nation’s biggest banks are healthy enough to withstand a sudden economic catastrophe, the Federal Reserve said yesterday as it released the results from its latest “stress tests,” giving the banks the green light to start paying out dividends to investors and buying back stock, the Associated Press reported. The Fed also said it would remove all of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions they put on the industry last year, following the results of the tests. The Dodd-Frank Act passed after the 2008 financial crisis requires the nation’s biggest, most complicated banks to undergo a set of tests to see how well their balance sheets would hold up against a severe economic meltdown like that seen in the Great Recession. The tests vary from year to year, but generally involve the Fed testing to see how much in losses the banking industry would take if unemployment were to skyrocket and economic activity were to severely contract. Due to the economic damage caused by the pandemic, the Fed did two stress tests of the banking system last year, trying to simulate the impact a long-lasting economic downturn and pandemic would have on the nation’s banking system. The Fed’s worst case scenario last year, a double-dip recession, would have caused roughly a quarter of all the biggest banks to breach their minimum capital requirements.

A federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administration from distributing $4 billion in stimulus debt-relief aid to “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” over concerns that the plan discriminates against White people, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard in Jacksonville on Wednesday issued an injunction against the plan, saying a White farmer who sued the Department of Agriculture alleging bias is likely to succeed if the case goes to trial. At issue is the definition of “socially disadvantaged” in the provision of farm loan-forgiveness aid included in the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill. The Agriculture Department has said the plan was designed to remedy past discrimination against Black and other minority farmers in the distribution of government assistance. But the judge said that the Biden administration had so far failed to justify using race as a factor in forgiving farm loans. “There is little evidence that the Government gave serious consideration to, or tried, race-neutral alternatives” to the provision, Judge Howard, a George W. Bush appointee, said in her ruling. Judge Howard is the second federal judge to block the plan in response to a lawsuit by a White farmer. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Milwaukee issued a restraining order against it earlier this month. A number of similar suits have been filed, including one in Texas by America First Legal, a conservative legal group launched in April by former top Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows, among others. That suit alleges the Biden loan-forgiveness plan violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against “Irish, Italians, Germans, Jews and eastern Europeans.”

Unemployed workers in Maryland are going to court to try to stop the state from cutting off federal aid to the jobless, the Baltimore Sun reported. The Unemployed Workers Union announced a lawsuit Thursday challenging Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to end several pandemic unemployment programs early. The class-action lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court also seeks benefits for people whose cases have been pending in the state’s claims system. Named as defendants are Hogan and Maryland Department of Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson. The plaintiffs are six Maryland residents who have filed for unemployment. They want a judge to issue an injunction to stop Hogan from ending the federal benefits. They also want the court to declare that the unemployment claimants have a right to withheld benefits, speedy adjudication of claims and adequate communication from the state labor department. Many claimants have been disqualified from benefits “without explanation or hearing” or “were placed in an ‘on-hold’ status for months at a time or indefinitely,” the lawsuit claims.

Republican lawmakers voted Thursday to stop a $300 weekly federal supplement that is added to unemployed workers’ benefits in Michigan, though the measure is expected to be vetoed when it reaches Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Associated Press reported. The GOP-controlled Legislature passed the bill on party lines, 19-16 in the Senate and 57-51 in the House. It would require the $300 pandemic benefit to end July 31. Supporters have said the supplement, which is on top of the maximum state benefit of $362 a week, discourages people from rejoining the workforce. It is due to cease Sept. 4 under federal law. About half of states, nearly all of them with Republican governors, have opted to end the extra benefit early. “It doesn’t make any sense for the federal government to pay people not to work when we’ve moving moving the state back to normal,” Rep. Beth Griffin, a Mattawan Republican, said last week, days before Michigan’s COVID-19 capacity restrictions and mask requirements were lifted. Whitmer, however, has said a lack of child care is a bigger barrier to filling jobs and wants to expand a state “workshare” program so employers can hire new workers who, while working, would still get the $300 weekly benefit.

Gov. Andy Beshear yesterday dangled a $1,500 bonus meant to lure thousands of unemployed Kentuckians back to work, offering it as an alternative to cutting off enhanced jobless benefits that Republicans and businesses blame for causing a workforce shortage, the Associated Press reported. The first 15,000 Kentuckians who qualify and return to work by July 30 will receive the one-time, return-to-work incentive, the Democratic governor announced. Beshear said he’s setting aside $22.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for the incentive. “It truly brings, I think, government and the private sector together in a way where first we try the carrot as opposed to the stick to resolve this problem,” Beshear said. The governor has faced increased pressure from Republican lawmakers and business groups to curtail the proliferation of “help wanted” signs showing up at Kentucky workplaces. Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne gave a blistering critique of the governor’s initiative. Offering a $1,500 bonus to get people to return to work is “extremely insulting” to people who have worked throughout the pandemic, Osborne said in a statement.

Authentic Brands Group LLC, the owner of businesses such as Brooks Brothers and Forever 21, agreed to buy the heritage brands unit of PVH Corp. in a $220 million deal, Bloomberg News reported. The cash transaction includes brands such as Izod, Geoffrey Beene and PVH’s namesake Van Heusen, the companies said Wednesday in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of PVH’s current fiscal year. PVH will retain brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. New York-based Authentic has made a name for itself buying well-known consumer brands, often through bankruptcy sales, and revitalizing the intellectual property, online presence and brick-and-mortar portfolio. Among the company’s familiar brand names are Nautica, Forever 21, Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers and Barneys New York. Since last year, Authentic Chief Executive Officer Jamie Salter has added new names including Eddie Bauer and Lucky Brand to its family of more than 30 apparel, celebrity and sports brands. Its recent growth has Authentic considering an initial public offering. Last July, PVH said it would close its 162 heritage-brand outlet stores, which it said at the time were expected to operate through mid-2021. It said the decision was accelerated by Covid-19. Read more. 

Learn more about the interplay between bankruptcy and intellectual property with Choppy Waters: Navigating the Intersection of Bankruptcy and Intellectual Property, available for purchase here. 

An upscale retirement community in Port Washington, N.Y., has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors for the second time in seven years, records show, Newsday reported. The Amsterdam at Harborside, a nonprofit opened in 2010, stopped making debt payments and refunds of resident entrance fees during the pandemic. As a result, the 329-unit facility is no longer in compliance with state law, according to documents filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip. Amsterdam officials said on Tuesday that "there will be no staff layoffs or reduction or disruption" of services for the 375 people who live at the facility. In the filing, Amsterdam CEO James Davis said that the coronavirus had "exacerbated" the facility's "historic financial challenges" of not being able to attract enough new residents to pay day-to-day bills and the entrance-fee refunds owed to the relatives of deceased residents. The same challenges, along with the 2007-09 recession, led the Amsterdam to file for bankruptcy protection in July 2014, according to Newsday articles from the period. The retirement community, at 300 East Overlook, exited bankruptcy court in early 2015 after restructuring its debt, including tax-exempt bonds issued by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency. The community also secured $550,000 in IDA property-tax breaks over nine years. That was on top of a 25-year tax deal awarded in 2007, the articles state. "Seven years ago, no one could have anticipated that a global pandemic would hit in 2020 and the effect it would have on our cash flow," Davis said on Tuesday in a statement.

President Joe Biden will meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators today to discuss their proposed framework for an infrastructure bill as he looks to push a large-scale spending package through Congress despite Republican opposition, Reuters reported. Members of the group of 21 senators, or "G-21," announced an agreement on a framework on Wednesday after a meeting with White House officials. The G-21 talks have focused on a $1.2 trillion, eight-year spending plan, with a mix of new and repurposed funding. For Biden, securing a large-scale infrastructure package is a top domestic priority. The White House opened talks with the group after the Democratic president broke off negotiations with Republican Senator Shelley Capito. The White House said her proposals had fallen short of meeting "the essential needs of our country." Biden, seeking to fuel growth and address income inequality after the coronavirus pandemic, initially proposed spending about $2.3 trillion. Republicans chafed at his definition of infrastructure, which included fighting climate change and providing care for children and the elderly. The White House later trimmed the offer to about $1.7 trillion in an unsuccessful bid to win the Republican support needed for any plan to get the 60 votes required to advance most legislation in the evenly split 100-seat Senate.