CRA proposal, HUD disaster formula, California funding, and East Providence zoning

This Monday briefing covers four developments published or decided between August 10 and August 17, 2026: a proposed rewrite of Community Reinvestment Act rules, a HUD request for comment on disaster-recovery funding formulas, California affordable-housing gap awards, and an East Providence zoning amendment.

The federal banking proposal is not in force. On August 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation proposed changes to their Community Reinvestment Act regulations. The proposal would refocus evaluations on lending, revise how community-development activities and grants are treated, reduce some compliance burdens, and make standards more objective. Comments are due October 13. Banks, community-development organizations, and housing lenders should treat this as a comment and monitoring item, not as a new compliance rule. 1

HUD is keeping the current disaster formula while it asks for changes. HUD published a notice on August 13 seeking additional comments on the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery formula. Until HUD completes a final rule or publishes an updated formula notice, it says it will use the formula described in its 2025 notice for allocations tied to 2023 and 2024 disasters. Comments are due September 14. The practical checkpoint is future allocation notices, not an immediate change to an existing grant. 2

California moved funding toward construction. On August 11, California HCD announced nearly $239 million for 20 construction-ready affordable rental developments totaling about 1,700 homes. The awards come through the Multifamily Housing Program's gap-funding process and target projects that had not yet received tax-exempt bond financing or low-income housing tax credits. This is a funding award, not proof that all 20 projects have opened or completed construction. 3

East Providence approved a local code change. The Rhode Island city says its August 11 council action amended Chapter 19, Section 19-360.12, to define and permit attached single-family dwellings, such as townhomes, in appropriate zones that already allow multifamily housing. The action is intended to align the code with state law. The city announcement does not state a separate effective date, so a project team should verify the enacted ordinance and current code before relying on it for a filing. 4

This is general policy information, not legal, tax, or investment advice. For a filing, grant application, lender program, or parcel, use the governing text and the current agency or local-government record.