Op-Ed: Where Do We Go From Here?

By Caitlin Jones
February 22, 2011 1 min read

By Will Cooper Jr., President and CEO, WNC & Associates, Inc.

Tax Credit Advisor, February 2011: As the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program enters its 25th year, there are many reasons to celebrate. The LIHTC program, the nation’s largest and most successful federal affordable housing program, has had a magical run since 1986. Yet the winds of fiscal and political change are upon it, and both the success and support that the LIHTC program has long enjoyed could easily be eclipsed by this change.

The program was created by the bipartisan Tax Reform Act of 1986 – enacted under a Republican President and Senate and a Democratic House of Representatives. Unlike previous direct federally-funded programs, the LIHTC program was designed by Congress to bring the private and public sectors together in partnership to build and maintain quality affordable rental housing. Few can argue with the LIHTC program’s successes to date: the construction and rehabilitation of more than two million homes for families and seniors of modest means; a national portfolio with a lower foreclosure rate than virtually every other real estate asset class; and, at least until now, the blessing of Congress.

Breaking Ground

Jennifer Leimaile Ho, Minnesota Housing Commissioner and Incoming Chair of National Council of State Housing Agencies

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 10 min read

Earlier this fall, Jennifer Leimaile Ho was elected chair of the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) 2025 Board of Directors. Ho is the Commissioner of Minnesota Housing, having been appointed by Governor Tim Walz in January 2019 and reappointed in 2023.

“Business as Usual”

Leaders in Equity Express Optimism Despite an Uncertain Future

Abram Mamet • December 1, 2024 9 min read

Any outside observer may assume some unease amongst the low-income housing industry. Buffeted on the one hand by residual stressors from the COVID-19 pandemic and on the other by the uncertain prospects of an incoming federal administration keen on cutting spending and shrinking government programs, the affordable housing landscape is experiencing an inflection point.

NCSHA Recognizes Stand-Out Affordable Housing Programs and Initiatives

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 7 min read

This fall, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) recognized 17 programs offered by state housing finance agencies across the nation that creatively developed tools to tackle their communities’ affordable housing challenges.