HUD Announces 2013 Qualified Census Tracts

HUD recently announced that it has designated qualified census tracts (QCTs) for 2013 for purposes of the low-income housing tax credit. HUD based the 2013 QCTs on new data from the 2010 Decennial Census and the 2006-2010 tabulations of the American Community Survey.

This is the first time since 2007 that the QCTs have changed substantially. The boundaries and numbering of census tracts established for the 2010 Decennial Census may differ from those established for the 2000 Census, upon which past QCT designations were based.

The LIHTC statute provides two criteria for QCT eligibility: (1) a census tract must have a poverty rate of at least 25 percent; or (2) 50 percent or more of its householders must have incomes below 60 percent of the area median household income. The area corresponds to a metropolitan or a nonmetropolitan area. Furthermore, the LIHTC statute requires that no more than 20 percent of the metropolitan area population reside within designated QCTs (this limit also applies collectively to the nonmetropolitan counties in each state). Thus, it is possible for a tract to meet one or both of the above criteria, but not be designated as a QCT.

HUD is making the designation of QCTs for 2013 earlier than it has in recent years to give the public more time to adjust to the revised list. The effective date of the revised list of QCTs will still be the beginning of calendar year 2013.