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From Oct. 6 to Oct. 11, as a result of Hurricane Matthew, President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared parts of South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia as major disaster areas. Among other federal assistance, these declarations make LIHTC and tax-exempt bond-financed sites in these areas eligible for relief under the Internal Revenue Code.
The IRS recently issued Revenue Procedure 2016-52, which publishes the amounts of unused housing credit carryovers allocated to qualified states under Section 42(h)(3)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code for calendar year 2016. This year, slightly more than $2.6 million in unused low-income housing tax credit carryovers were placed in the national pool and reallocated to 34 qualified states.
The amounts of national pool LIHTCs reallocated to states range from $8,151 for North Dakota to $416,376 for California. Sixteen states received no national pool allocations.
The White House recently released the “Housing Development Toolkit,” which highlights actions state and local jurisdictions can take to encourage housing development. The white paper argues that restrictive zoning contributes to high rents, exacerbates wealth inequality, and slows the U.S. economy.
A bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown will allow California school districts to use federal tax credits, as well as local and state funds, when leasing property for the development of affordable housing for teachers and other school district employees. “When high-quality teachers can’t afford to live where they work, the entire community suffers,” said bill author Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, in a statement. “SB 1413 will help school districts directly address the housing affordability challenges facing teachers and reduce high turnover rates.”
In 2015, in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “disparate impact” liability under the Fair Housing Act. Under this theory, a housing provider violates the Fair Housing Act when the provider’s policy or practice has an unjustified discriminatory effect, even when the provider had no intent to discriminate.
HUD recently released an Interim Report: Evaluation of HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which found that “RAD has been extremely successful in attracting capital to help stabilize affordable housing developments.” The research, performed by Econometrica Inc., provided evidence that the program is on track to accomplish its goal of attracting substantial new capital to stabilize the physical and financial conditions of public housing properties, significantly improving housing conditions for low-income residents.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently released a discussion draft of legislation to create a new middle-income housing tax credit (MIHTC) program. The MIHTC discussion draft is a detailed legislative proposal, but it is not final. It’s being circulated to stakeholders, members of Congress, federal officials, and others for review and comment. The program is modeled after and is intended to work with the LIHTC program.
HUD recently issued new guidance confirming that persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) are protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). LEP includes a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English. The guidance reasons that LEP persons are covered by the FHA because of their close nexus with the protected class of national origin.
In an opinion piece recently published on CNN.com, the Democratic nominee for vice president, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, called for expanding the low income housing tax credit as part of a plan to “make housing fair in America.” According to Senator Kaine, the Democratic nominees’ plan will invest tens of billions of dollars to combat the housing problem from several different angles. He states:
Twenty-nine senators, led by Senator Al Franken (D-MN), recently sent a letter to HUD Secretary Julián Castro urging HUD to provide written guidance regarding how local nuisance ordinances may violate the Fair Housing Act and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The letter states, “Nuisance ordinances established by local governments across the nation are penalizing victims for calls requesting police protection or emergency assistance for crimes occurring at their homes.
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