Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

On March 7, President Obama signed into law the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 following earlier passage by Congress. The new law (P.L. No. 113-4) significantly expands the number of federal housing programs subject to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), creating new responsibilities and requirements for owners and managers of many types of affordable multifamily rental housing properties.

When it comes to turning around a troubled low-income housing tax credit property, Minneapolis-based Dominium is a Mr. Fix-It: it gets to work early and taps multiple funding sources to begin tackling the remedial work even before being formally admitted to the restructured limited partnership as the replacement general partner.

On March 14, 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) considered, Accounting for Investments in Affordable Housing Tax Credits (Issue 13-B), and voted to propose new guidance regarding when those investments will qualify for use of the effective yield method.

The low-income housing tax credit remains a main driver of transactions for renovating existing multifamily properties and preserving them as affordable rental housing for years to come. Yet there are some new wrinkles that promise additional opportunities for sponsors, including the new Rental Assistance Demonstration program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

A bipartisan commission has called for expanding the annual amount of federal low-income housing tax credits and deeper targeting of federal rent subsidies, as part of a package of national housing policy recommendations. Unveiled February 25 by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a Washington, D.C. think tank, the recommendations are contained in a report entitled Housing America’s Future: New Directions for National Policy.

Among affordable housing projects, Linda Vista Senior Apartments in Los Angeles has a unique and haunting backstory.

In many new national multi-investor funds closing later this year, projected after-tax returns to so-called economic investors are likely to dip below the once-sacrosanct 7% level, according to syndicators and other sources in the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) industry.

For many years, state housing agencies in their qualified allocation plans have strongly promoted the enrichment of new low-income housing tax credit projects with services for residents. This trend has occurred in all types of LIHTC developments – those targeting families, seniors, and persons with special needs.

The multifamily housing sector is going strong in the United States but there’s still an affordability crisis for renters, according to a recent report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

In policy-speak, a “food desert” is a low-income area, usually urban, where affordable healthy food is hard to obtain, especially for those without a car. Similarly, a data desert is a low-income neighborhood, community, or multifamily property where in-home high-capacity broadband with Internet access is unavailable, unreliable, or expensive.

When completed next spring, Blue Butterfly Village in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles will be more than just another housing development. Rather, with affordable apartments and supportive services, it will provide a safe and nurturing environment for the special but vulnerable households that will have priority for occupancy: homeless women veterans and their children.

In Worcester, Mass., a former industrial city of 181,000 battered for decades by population and job losses, the federal new markets tax credit is helping to finance the redevelopment of five vacant downtown buildings once used by the local daily newspaper into a new urban education and business center.