State Agencies Far Along in Awarding Stimulus Dollars to Projects, Survey Finds
By Caitlin Jones
4 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, December 2009: State agencies have awarded nearly $4.2 billion in federal stimulus act funds so far to jumpstart stalled low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects, according to data collected by a Tax Credit Advisor survey that shows the enormous housing production from the new Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) and Section 1602 credit exchange program.
A federal official also reported new figures showing growth in state commitments of TCAP funds.
The TCA survey also found that state housing credit agencies (HCAs) are at different stages in their 2010 housing credit programs, regarding the status of their qualified allocation plans (QAPs), future LIHTC application deadlines, and forward commitments of 2010 credits. Seventeen states have final QAPs, and 19 states have forward committed $98 million in 2010 credits.
Forty-three states plus the city of Chicago responded to the survey. (See pp. 34-35 for chart on state-by-state TCAP activity; pp. 36-37, exchange program activity; pp. 38-39, 2010 QAP status and application deadlines.)
Funding Award Activity
The Tax Credit Advisor survey, distributed in early November, queried state HCAs on their funding award activity to date under their TCAP and credit exchange programs and about plans for future application rounds for these funds.
Including conditional awards by Texas, the 44 responding agencies have awarded nearly $4.2 billion in TCAP and exchange funds, to assist 1,195 affordable rental housing projects that will contain 81,438 units. There is some overlap in the numbers for projects and units; a few states said some projects are getting both TCAP and exchange funds.
Nonetheless, the totals illustrate the huge size and impact of the two programs in facilitating the production of affordable rental projects that might well not be built otherwise because of funding gaps and the tepid LIHTC equity market. The $4.2 billion in awarded TCAP funds to date compares to the $5.5 billion in estimated total LIHTC equity raised in 2008. The number of assisted projects and units compares with the 100,000 or so units typically generated by annual housing credit allocations in
normal past years.
The survey results undercount the total TCAP and exchange funds awarded to date and the number of assisted projects and units. Larger figures would result from the addition of data from non-responding agencies. In addition, many of the responding state agencies still had uncommitted TCAP and exchange funds on hand. Moreover, state agencies can still elect to turn in additional unused housing credits in the future to receive more exchange dollars.
The responding state agencies have about $1.4 billion in remaining TCAP and exchange funds on hand to award. Only a handful of agencies now plan to hold additional future application rounds for TCAP and exchange funds. A number of agencies are still processing current applications to make award selections.
Including Texas’ conditional awards, 44 state agencies have awarded $2.6 billion so far under the exchange program for 616 projects with 35,873 units, and have $969.3 million yet to award. They have awarded $1.6 billion in TCAP funds for 579 projects with 45,565 units, with $413.8 million left to award.
California led all responding states in most funds awarded to date under the TCAP program, and cumulatively for both the TCAP and exchange programs ($576 million). Florida was No. 1 in awarded exchange funds so far, $322.6 million. The make-up of the top five states under the two programs is quite different (see chart at right).
New Statistics
On October 23, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that 45 state housing credit agencies have been provided $3.1 billion in exchange funds so far. (For details and state-by-state amounts: http:// www.treas.gov/press/releases/ tg331.htm)
Meanwhile, Cliff Taffet, of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), shared updated statistics as of November 13 that show sharp growth in state TCAP activity from two months ago.
State credit agencies have committed more than $183 million in TCAP funds to specific projects, and 18 states have set up 71 projects (5,166 units) in HUD’s reporting system. Setting up a project is a precursor to disbursement of TCAP funds to it by a state agency. The 18 states are Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Taffet reported $15.6 million in TCAP funds has been drawn down by nine state agencies to make disbursements to 12 projects: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin. Two months ago, only two state agencies had drawn down funds and only 30 projects set up.
“From what we hear,” Taffet said, “there are closings all the time, and projects progressing to construction. These numbers will only grow, substantially I expect over the next several months.”
Taffet, who indicated that HUD’s TCAP data lags, said the Department doesn’t currently have plans to issue additional guidance for the TCAP program. It recently issued guidance to state agencies about certain reporting.
