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The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) has awarded low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) to four developments selected in its first separate competitive funding round for “high impact” projects.

Developers and owners should take a proactive approach when it comes to property tax assessments for low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects. Aggressive early and ongoing actions can prevent or minimize excessive assessments that can jeopardize the financial viability of a property, said panelists at the recent 2013 Annual Meeting of the National Council of Housing Market Analysts in Columbus, Ohio.

In the 15 months since the jarring federal appeals court decision in Historic Boardwalk Hall, which prompted a sharp reduction in the availability of investor equity for new real estate projects planning to use federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, some deals have moved forward and closed, according to sources. Some have had modified structures compared to typical pre-HBH transactions while others have been little changed, they say.

In Philadelphia, Miss., a city of nearly 7,500 with a median household income just under $30,000, local officials in June celebrated the opening of a 52,000-square-foot expansion of the local Neshoba County Hospital and Nursing Home that was financed with new markets tax credits. The expansion added a new emergency room, four-bed intensive care unit, 25 patient beds, radiology department, surgery suite, and pharmacy.

The season of holiday parties and the last minute push to close transactions will keep us all busy this month. That’s right; we made it to the end of the year, mostly intact, and not a moment too soon. Frankly, after observing our political system in action this year (or, perhaps more accurately, inaction) I was not sure we were going to make it.

In the city of Milwaukee, Wisc., where many neighborhoods have been pockmarked by foreclosed and abandoned homes, two for-profit developers are teaming up to restore some of these derelict properties to productive use as renovated, affordable rental housing.

My heavy old dictionary – a thousand-plus yellowed pages – defines transformation as a major or radical change in the appearance or nature of someone or something.

Isaac Newton thought light was a particle: it moves in straight lines, reflects off smooth surfaces, and refracts if deflected. But Newton couldn’t explain interference effects; a century later, Fresnel and Thomas Young gave wave proponents the upper hand. Yet waves need a medium in which to travel, and light travels everywhere in the universe, including through a perfect vacuum.

If variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes, then the world of low-income housing tax credits is very well seasoned.

Short egocentric architect Frank Lloyd Wright must have hated tall people; his homes all have low ceilings. Similarly, transportation czar Robert Moses hated trucks; clearance under his stone bridges on New York State’s parkways goes as low as seven feet.

Today’s low interest rates provide a window of opportunity for urban communities to take a bold step to increase the energy efficiency of their privately owned apartment buildings. Maturing 5- and 10-year mortgages can now be refinanced at interest rates that are 100 to 150 basis points lower, creating the potential for additional investments in these properties.

Since our last report in August, we have seen the recent federal government shutdown, which stalled operations at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), along with a sharp drop in multifamily mortgage interest rates.