In November, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) from the House introduced “The Housing for Homeless Students Act of 2022” to help homeless students, veterans, and foster youth access affordable housing while pursuing an education.
The IRS recently published the amounts of unused low-income housing tax credit carryovers for calendar year 2022. The carryover allocation is made up of LIHTCs that are not allocated by states but are added to a national pool and redistributed to qualified states that apply for the additional credits. Revenue Procedure 2022-37 details how $5.4 million of unused LIHTCs were divided among the eligible states in the national pool.
A recent report released by the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) highlights the actions state housing finance agencies are going through in this period of increased labor, materials, and financing costs to ensure pending LIHTC projects can proceed as planned. The report is titled, “Filling Funding Gaps: How State Agencies are Moving to Meet a Growing Threat to Affordable Housing.”
On Aug. 16, President Biden signed into law the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes significant investments to address climate change in affordable housing. The law provides billions of dollars in funding through direct spending and tax credits that can be used to preserve affordable housing, reduce energy costs, and increase community resilience.
In early August, the White House hosted a virtual summit on “Building Lasting Eviction Prevention Reform.” As funds for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) are beginning to wind down, the meeting focused on the need for an all-out effort to build lasting eviction prevention reform.
More than half of all states have measures aimed at protecting LIHTC sites from natural disasters, according to a new report from Freddie Mac. The research is part of Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan, a regulatory mandate from the federal Housing Finance Agency to provide leadership and facilitate mortgages for underserved markets such as affordable housing.
The U.S. Department of Treasury recently announced that it will allow state, local, and tribal governments more flexibility to use COVID-19 rescue funds to boost the supply of affordable housing, including permission to issue direct long-term project loans. The issued guidance permits State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to fund the full principal amount of long-term affordable housing loans and expands the lost of programs for which the SLFRF can be used for affordable housing.
Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) and David Rouzer (R-N.C.) recently announced the LIHTC Financing Enabling Long-Term Investment in Neighborhood Excellence Act or LIFELINE Act. This legislation would make American Rescue Plan funds more compatible for LIHTC housing developments.
The American Rescue Plan Act turned one this past month. The act authorized the second infusion of resources into the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (initially authorized and funded under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021). In celebration of the law’s anniversary, the Treasury Department released a fact sheet on the impact the law has had.
