Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

Each year since 2004, NH&RA has bestowed its Affordable Housing Vision Award to affordable housing and community
development leaders who have made valuable contributions to the field and demonstrated years of leadership, commitment and imagination. Recognizing that providing housing for those who cannot meet the market rates is an always complex and challenging endeavor, demanding both perseverance and foresight, NH&RA seeks to single out men and women in all aspects of the industry whose careers and achievements serve as examples and role models. Traditionally, one individual is chosen from the profit sector and one from the nonprofit sector.

Over the better part of the past decade, given the extraordinary demand and competition for multifamily investment, many existing affordable housing properties nearing the end of their initial 15-year compliance period have been sold to “conventional buyers” whose goal is to drive high returns rather than be long term owner/operators of affordable housing.

I love history. I am the kind of guy that makes long detours to visit minor historic landmarks. You have probably cursed at me from your car because I slow down traffic to better read the historic markers on the side of country roads.

In “Hamilton,” the most highly praised Broadway musical in some years, author/composer/lyricist/star Lin Manuel Miranda tells the story of America’s Founding Fathers to rap music—and it works. Miranda’s brilliant conceit is that the rebels who sought a better life than they had under King George III share the emotions in the voices of those seeking a better life today. And, in his cast, the faces of his 18th century revolutionaries are those of today’s America.

Few people have achieved the level of success expanding access to affordable housing and homeownership opportunities in the mid-Atlantic region as Chickie Grayson, President and CEO of Enterprise Homes, Inc.

“New Markets Tax Credit legislation for South Carolina has been filed the past two years sponsored by a broadly bi-partisan group of legislators,” says Burnie Maybank, a former director of the state’s Department of Revenue and now in the Columbia, S.C. office of the Nexsen/Pruitt law firm

Throughout the U.S., people know new ideas and trends often come from California. But in one such case, some worry that the new ideas may drive developers and investors away from building affordable housing there.

The clock started ticking in May 2014, when Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), an affordable housing developer with offices in Chicago, signed an agreement to buy Lafayette Terrace, an old, project- based Sec. 8 property on Chicago’s South Side.

If we had to pick a single word that best characterizes the approach to senior living exemplified by Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly of Boston, Massachusetts, we would find that word right in the name: Community.

“You will be haunted,” resumed the Ghost,
“by Three Spirits.”
“I – I think I’d rather not,” said Scrooge.

Success and its resultant growth may make the ownership and staff of a company happier, but it does not make their jobs easier. Success in the housing industry, affordable or other, usually means more—more buildings, more units, more residents, more staff, more income, more expenses, more data, more time, more everything.

Responding to a request from Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has performed a review of the oversight and administration of the Low- Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program. The results of the study were sent to Senator Grassley on July 15, 2015.