Kentucky Lawmakers Question Distribution of State’s LIHTC Funds

Members of Louisville’s Kentucky Legislature delegation are pushing for legislative hearings on why the city has gotten less funding through federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits than other parts of the state.

The credits are distributed annually by the Kentucky Housing Corporation. Distribution of the credits is tracked by congressional district, each of which has roughly the same population.

Since 2010, the Third Congressional District, which covers most of Louisville, has received funding assistance from Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for 13 projects. In that same period, the state’s other five congressional districts were given funding for nearly double the number of projects.

According to State Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat, the disparity raises the question of whether the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s methodology for awarding the credits is equitable.

And the state’s lawmakers are also interested in the reason why so few applications were submitted from the Third Congressional District in the most recent funding year. In 2015, just three applications were submitted for development projects in the Third District, according to data from the Kentucky Housing Corporation.