Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

More than a half century ago, in what would become the major theme exhibition for the 1967 Montreal World Exposition, Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie created a 12-story urban neighborhood on the bank of the Saint Lawrence River out of modular, precast concrete blocks lifted into place by cranes.

The Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit statute provides that after the decade in which all tax credits have been claimed, and the 15-year compliance period in which they are no longer subject to recapture, the nonprofit partner generally has the right of first refusal to buy the property at a favorable price when an offer is made by a third-party.

On September 6, 2008, the federal government nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a measure without precedent in global financial history, even more systemically dramatic than Pierpont Morgan’s single-handedly underwriting global liquidity to stop the Panic of 1907.

Jeff Huggett enjoyed doing pro bono development work on a project to house the homeless in St. Paul, MN, recently.

As I write this month’s column, there are 81 days until the mid-term elections (probably closer to 60 by the time you read it) and only about 35 remaining legislative working days through the end of the year.

The storm you see on the cover of this issue is not, I promise you, a metaphor for the federal government or the NBA or Harvey Weinstein’s life. It’s just a storm, like the three that hit Florida last year, the same year that fires seered parts of California, as well as properties owned by some NH&RA members in the northeast.

If you’ve attended an affordable housing conference in the past few months, much of the conversation has likely centered around income averaging.

It’s clear from adding up the pros and cons of last year’s tax reform that the tax credit industry could have fared a lot worse than it did. It’s also apparent that while the industry did take a few knocks, it wasn’t knocked for a loop.

Asset managers make sure affordable housing produces the expected benefits. It’s the job of the asset manager to maximize the performance of affordable housing assets by delivering tax credits to investors, debt service to lenders, cash flow to owners and equity partners, compliance to regulators and quality housing to residents.

Back in the 1990s, I was hired to write an IMAX film entitled Stormchasers, about the men and women who pursue and study “big weather.”

When Tax Credit Advisor took a look at the solar energy market last summer, it was as hot as our nation’s capital in August.

Readers of this publication may already know about the modern industry towns of America, and what they have done to housing markets.