The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will start a new pilot program in the spring charged with getting affordable housing deals done much more quickly. The Tax Credit Pilot Program was originally mandated more than three years ago by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. But a change in administrations and several bureaucratic holdups have delayed its implementation.

The program is modeled on the LEAN program for health care loans, and it's intended to expedite the processing of deals using low-income housing tax credits.