Caitlin Jones • 2 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: In a new report, the Government Accountability Office describes the project and investment activity and patterns thus far under the federal new markets tax credit program, and outlines two options for enhancing the program.
Caitlin Jones • 3 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it is considering changes to strengthen its FHA multifamily loan programs.
These changes are intended to address, in part, the escalating number of loan delinquencies and potential for FHA claims in specific markets. In some markets, claim rates for FHA apartment loans have increased from 0.6 percent in FY 2007 to 1.2 percent in FY 2009, to a projected 2.4 percent in FY 2010.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
By Jeffrey D. Banker, Lancaster Pollard Mortgage Company
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: Low-income housing tax credit developers are used to turning over numerous stones to finance construction or rehabilitation projects Ð grants, bank loans, HOME loans, etc. But in the aftermath of the financial meltdown, many developers have been left to fill funding gaps caused by the loss of permanent financing commitments, or face much more limited options for construction financing.
Caitlin Jones • 3 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: On February 1, the White House unveiled a proposed federal budget for the fiscal year that begins October 1 calling for a mix of spending increases and cuts to federal housing and community development programs.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: With the 2010 low-income housing tax credit equity market just getting underway, a pattern of sorts is emerging. Properties located in some major metropolitan areas are having no trouble attracting multiple bids, even trading at a “premium” in some markets. Some of this we can ascribe to the natural hesitancy of earning-battered equity investors to move quickly to reinvest in an asset type that has a long delivery (ten years) and questionable liquidity.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: The Yavapai-Apache Nation, a Native American tribe of about 2,000 people in Arizona, has 90 families on its waiting list for affordable housing. As the tribe’s housing authority tries to meet this need, it has been turning increasingly to the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) to create additional affordable homes.
Caitlin Jones • 3 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010:
On February 4, Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced the establishment of HUD’s new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC). Shelley Poticha is Director of OSHC. The Office will be responsible for administering the Sustainable Community Initiative, a new initiative funded at $150 million for FY 2010. Of this amount, $100 million is for a new Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program, for which HUD published a notice.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2010: Brookline Bank, a community bank in Eastern Massachusetts, illustrates a success story that many would like to see replicated to help restore the challenged low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity market to a sound footing.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, February 2010: At a time when it’s often difficult to secure all of the necessary funds for a new tax credit project, developer Tom Wilkinson is getting creative in order to get to closing and construction. In a couple of deals, he’s created his own bridge financing, by getting the general contractor to carry the pre-development or early development costs until the tax credit equity comes in.
Caitlin Jones • 3 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, February 2010: Fred Copeman, formerly a partner with Ernst & Young LLP, has joined the Reznick Group as a Principal in the firm’s national real estate consulting practice. Based in Boston, he will lead the firm’s new Tax Credit Investor Services practice, which will provide due diligence and other advisory services to institutional investors in tax credit projects.
Caitlin Jones • 1 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, February 2010: Stratford Capital Group announced that it raised low-income housing tax credit equity in 2009 for both individual projects and for its Stratford Fund II Limited Partnership.
Caitlin Jones • 5 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, February 2010: Will 2010 be a better year for the LIHTC industry than 2009?
At an early January conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the National Council of State Housing Agencies, multiple speakers à syndicators, investors, and others à predicted that the LIHTC equity picture will be much improved in 2010. Some suggested that the rebound has already begun.