We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
As of publication of this July 2015 issue, no decision has yet come down from the U.S. Supreme Court on Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., the case that will decide whether it’s within the bounds of the Fair Housing Act to be able to apply the controversial “disparate impact” doctrine.
Recent research has examined the siting patterns of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments, but the reality is that the LIHTC program is not one uniform, national program. Rather, the program is administered by state allocating agencies, each of which has considerable discretion over how to allocate tax credits. In particular, each state issues a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), which outlines the selection criteria the state will use when awarding its 9 per...
Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Senate Finance Committee member Rob Portman (R-OH) recently introduced the Housing for Homeless Students Act, S. 1412, which would add a new exemption to the housing credit student rule to allow full-time students to qualify to rent an LIHTC apartment if they were a youth experiencing homelessness as defined in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act at any point within the seven years prior to moving into their LIHTC unit, or if they ar...
The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently issued a report entitled “Out of Reach 2015.” The report highlights the growing housing affordability crisis in America and the need to expand and preserve the supply of quality affordable housing through programs such as the LIHTC program. It looks at the mismatch between the wages people earn and the price of decent housing. It finds that the gap between what people earn and the price of decent housing con...
The IRS recently released its 2015 Calendar Year Resident Population Figures in IRS Notice 2015-12. This notice advises state and local housing credit agencies that allocate low-income housing tax credits of the population figures to use in calculating tax credit ceilings and tax-exempt private activity bond caps.
The IRS sets priority guidance plans each year and updates them on a quarterly basis. The IRS uses the priority guidance plan each year to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance. The 2015-2016 Priority Guidance Plan will identify guidance projects that the IRS intends to work on actively as priorities during the period from July 1, 2015...
The National Housing Conference’s Center for Housing Policy recently released a cost burden report that examines trends in housing affordability for low- to moderate-income working families throughout the United States. Using the U.S.
On Feb. 2, President Obama introduced his fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget. The proposal includes significant policy proposals aimed at improving the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The budget retains many of last year’s proposed modifications, and adds a new proposal to remove the population cap for Qualified Census Tract designations.
Specifically, the current budget proposal would modify the LIHTC program by:
HUD recently issued a memo clarifying tenant protections for households when owners use both HUD-assistance and LIHTC financing. According to HUD, there have been reports that some owners had been trying to terminate the tenancy of current HUD-assisted tenants who don’t meet LIHTC eligibility guidelines.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently issued its 2015 poverty guidelines. These guidelines are used to determine financial eligibility for certain federal programs. Now that these guidelines have been published, HUD will release two sets of new income limits for fiscal year 2015 soon.