Susan Dewey, Virginia Housing Development Authority

Susan F. Dewey, executive director of the Virginia Housing Development Authority, expects the agency to issue about the same amount of bonds in calendar 2001 as it did last year -- $775 million.

The agency, which deals mostly in taxable debt, will get an extra $72 million in tax-exempt authority thanks to last year's increase in the private-activity bond volume cap, finance director Conrad K. Sterrett said. Instead of the $92 million that the agency already had for 2001, it will have $116 million this year and $140 million in 2002, he said.

This year the VHDA plans to try a new format for taxable single-family financings, according to Sterrett.

"It's a format more similar to traditional mortgage-backed securities in that interest and principal are paid monthly and bond retirements are determined by repayments of an identified pool of loans," he explained.

The agency sells multifamily mortgage revenue bonds every quarter, and single-family MRBs every six to eight weeks. The agency's fiscal year begins July 1.

Dewey, who was state treasurer from 1996 to 1999, said the $7.2 billion agency will also spend time this year improving its efficiency. Officials recently sent out a request for proposals to find a consultant for a resource allocation study that would point the way for changes over the next five years.

The VHDA, one of the highest-rated housing finance agencies in the nation, also plans in March to embark on a statewide "needs assessment" featuring public forums in eight locations across the state. The goal is to find out from local residents what their housing needs are, Dewey said.