Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

Sometimes a revolution happens not with a blare of trumpets but through a thousand small actions in the same direction. Without actually sensing movement, one suddenly realizes the world has become quite different than it was – and is never going back.

As the Housing Credit community rightly celebrates its hard-fought victory for the extension of the fixed 9 percent Housing Credit rate in the American Taxpayer Relief Act and moves into 2013 with a comprehensive strategy for protecting the program in tax reform, we must not lose focus on another important resource that accounts for approximately 40 percent of all annual Housing Credit rental home production.

Throughout my career, my affordable housing colleagues and I have avoided all mention of the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID). Whatever we might have thought about it privately, in public our lips were sealed.

The passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) in the final days of the 112th Congress was an important victory for affordable housing and new markets tax credit developers, professionals, and advocates around the country.

Low-cost capital raised from foreign investors under the federal “EB-5” program can help finance new markets tax credit (NMTC) projects, as illustrated by three real estate projects in Texas and Wisconsin.

The affordable housing, community development, and renewable energy industries received a boost with the inclusion of “extender” provisions in the American Taxpayer Relief Act signed into law by President Obama on January 2.

Low-income housing tax credit industry participants, buoyed after the recent legislative “fix” of the 9% credit rate, are cautiously optimistic about the outlook in 2013 for raising equity but anticipate political challenges nationally, according to interviews and speakers’ comments at a recent Washington, D.C. conference held by the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

Morgan Stanley, The Kresge Foundation, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) have launched a pioneering new $100 million investment fund that will finance additional affordable rental housing and health care facilities for low-income households in an integrated fashion.

Low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties exhibited strong operating performance during 2008-2010 at the state-by-state level as well as overall nationally, according to a new study by CohnReznick LLP.

Housing needs in Tennessee are widespread, diverse, and have intensified since 2000 despite significant resources devoted to assisting homeowners, renters, and others in the state, according to a comprehensive new statewide housing needs assessment study released by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA).

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given initial approval to the first transactions under the new Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, committing to issue new long-term contracts providing federal project-based rent subsidies to properties once owners have finalized all their funding sources.

It may be hard to believe. But the present probably offers some of the most favorable borrowing rates ever for affordable rental housing developers and owners seeking debt for new projects or to refinance existing properties.