Potential Gold: Creating Historic Tax Credit Deals from Overlooked Buildings

By Caitlin Jones
November 28, 2011 1 min read

Tax Credit Advisor, November 2011: Is that old building on the corner a candidate for renovation using federal historic tax credits? Perhaps. In an interview, Washington, D.C. historic preservation consultant William MacRostie, principal of MacRostie Historic Advisors LLC, outlines the program’s rules and identifies some types of overlooked buildings that might be tax credit deals in waiting.

How old must a building be to qualify for approval by the National Park Service as a certified historic structure and for federal historic tax credits?

Generally 50 years, and either individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places or located in an historic district. An historic district wraps in buildings of a period in history and type. In general, historic districts are either residential districts or commercial districts. A district on the National Register of Historic Districts has a so-called period of significance, the time period that draws in all of the certified historic structures within the boundaries of that district that contribute to that district. Read More…

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.