Monday Morning Cup of Coffee is a quick look at the news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.

Currently, the Federal Reserve’s decision to pullback on bond purchasing hinges on the labor market, and if the job market can sustain this growth, more economists are projecting the Fed will begin trimming its $85 billion in monthly bonds in September.

"Hiring has been remarkably stable for the most part and there’s no reason to suspect that won’t continue," Brian Jones, a senior economist at Societe Generale, said when cited in the article.

Meanwhile, millennials are starting to take current mortgage rates as normal, since rates stayed drastically low in recent years, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek.  

Because of this mentality homebuilders are struggling to get young borrowers to see past the recent rate hikes.

Around 41% of respondents in a Trulia survey said that interest rates were their highest concern, compared to 37% who pointed to prices, the article suggested.

In order to help millennials over the hump, builders need to give young borrowers a better perspective of the situation.

If millennials knew that in the 1980s mortgage rates flirted around 20%, they might be less weary about a 1% spike in rates, the article explained.

A new bill sponsored by Senator Mark Janson, R-Mich., would allow the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to introduce a new $100 million Michigan Mezzanine Investment Fund to support housing projects around the state.   

The fund is supposed to raise capital to construct multifamily and mixed-use developments primarily in the state’s downtown and core urban neighborhoods, the report explained.

It is the younger generation that is moving into the cities, and they want a downtown they can walk around in, mass transit and a variety of amenities. However, this type of environment requires a lot of funding and nontraditional financing sources to create.

The Michigan Mezzanine Investment Fund is supposed to serve as a bridge to help fund these areas, and if approved, the fund is expected to leverage between $500 million to $600 million in investments in the state.  

A little further southwest, Denver is also starting to address its affordable housing problems, an article in the Denver Post said.

The city created the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance to add hundreds of below-market-rate homes for workers.

But over the past decade, the law fell short since developers found loopholes and inconsistencies with it, prompting a revamping of the plan.

Under the current law, new residential developments of 30 or more units have to designate 10% of those units as affordable, but a provision of the law allows developers to opt out of the regulation by making payments to Denver instead.  

As a result, high demand neighborhood developers have routinely opted out of the program, with the city collecting $3.7 million in fees.

Denver officials are working on incentives to build affordable housing and give developers and city agencies more flexibility in the program.

A pool of mortgage and real estate veterans are pulling together with leaders of national community development, fair housing and consumer groups to form a national nonprofit organization to speak for the home-owning public, according to an article in the Washington Post.

The American Homeowner Alliance is designed similarly to AARP and is dedicated to protecting and promoting sustainable home ownership for all segments of the population.

Phil Bracken, chief policy officer of government relations for Radian Guaranty, created the idea, and Tino Diaz, who heads a management consulting firm in Florida, will lead as president and CEO.

When it comes to federal policies, Bracken explained in the article that his group will strongly favor retention of mortgage interest deductions, a position that mirrors the beliefs of countless Realtors and homebuilders.

Bracken noted that he hopes to have 250,000 members within 12 months, and by the end of the second year, the goal is to have 500,000 members. 

Membership costs $20 and benefits include rewards and discounts to more than 1,000 participating companies offering home-related products and services.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. did not close any banks during the week ending July 26.