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For the first time, the HUD Office of Policy Development and Research has made available data on the characteristics of tenants living in properties funded through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in a recently released report entitled, “Understanding Whom the LIHTC Program Serves: Tenants in LIHTC Units as of December 31, 2012.”

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments for a major civil rights case that could narrow the scope of discrimination claims made under the landmark Fair Housing Act (FHA). The court is considering whether the 1968 law allows racial and other bias claims based on seemingly neutral practices that may have a discriminatory effect. These are known as “disparate impact” claims. There is no dispute over the law’s prohibition on openly discriminatory acts.

The IRS recently issued Revenue Procedure 2015-3, which updates Revenue Procedure 2014–3, and revises the list of those areas on which the IRS will not issue letter rulings or determination letters. Letter rulings and determination letters are answers to inquiries from individual taxpayers on their status for tax purposes and the tax effects of their acts or transactions.

HUD recently announced that it would push back publication of its fiscal year (FY) 2015 income limits until after the publication of 2015 poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The income limits are used to determine income eligibility for HUD’s assisted housing programs, including public housing, Section 8, Section 202, and Section 811. Another indirect effect of the change is that the multifamily tax subsidy projects, or MTSP income limits, will also be delayed.

On Dec. 3, the House of Representatives passed the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (H.R. 5771), 378 to 46, which would extend for one year only, through 2014, a number of expired tax relief provisions, including the 9 percent housing credit floor, which will be applicable for LIHTC allocations made prior to Jan. 1, 2015.

Homebuilding, insurance, and financial services industry groups have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to find that the law does not allow disparate-impact discrimination claims to be heard under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) in a case over an allegedly disproportionate allocation of property tax credits to minorities in Texas.

Q: You can let a full-time site employee occupy a low-income unit at your tax credit site even if her income doesn’t make her eligible to occupy such a unit. True or false?

On Nov. 3, the U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia filed an opinion vacating HUD's final rule on Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Discriminatory Effects Standard, commonly referred to as the Disparate Impact Rule. HUD had recently finalized regulations that were intended to codify how a disparate impact claim is established, including the respective burdens that the plaintiffs and defendants must carry.

On Oct. 30, the IRS published Revenue Procedure 2014-61, establishing inflation adjustments for various tax provisions and setting the Housing Credit and Private Activity Bonds volume caps for 2015.

In a recent report, Standard and Poor's Rating Service (S&P) found that HFAs' financial ratios remained stable in fiscal year (FY) 2013 after two consecutive years of improvement. Of the 24 state HFAs that S&P rates, 20 of them have an "AA-" rating or higher.