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On June 25, HUD published a final rule implementing changes to the Section 8 tenant-based and project-based voucher programs made by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). HERA made several changes to the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 that affect programs administered by HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing. This affects owners since tax credit sites apply the rules of the Section 8 project-based program for purposes of rent determination and because voucher residents make up many tax credit sites’ resident bases.
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) recently released the Health Impact Assessment (HIA), a report that examines the health implications of a proposed government policy to align affordable housing inspections. OHFA was awarded a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, to conduct the assessment. The HIA is intended to inform the revision of compliance rules and policies for housing inspections, both within OHFA’s state-level compliance standards and at the federal level.
On June 17, the ACTION Campaign submitted a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp asking that he permanently extend minimum 9 and 4 percent Housing Credit rates as part of his current tax extenders effort. ACTION (A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods) is a national, grassroots campaign led by a broad, cross-industry coalition of over 650 national, state, and local organizations.
On June 24, the Senate Budget Committee approved HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan’s nomination to be director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by a vote of 15-6. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the nomination on June 25 by a vote of 9-1.
On May 22, Reps. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, and Richard Neal, D-Mass., introduced H.R. 4717, a bill that would establish a permanent floor for both the 9 percent and 4 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The bill would create a fixed 9 percent rate for new rental construction property and a fixed 4 percent rate for existing property. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means and includes 24 co-sponsors.
The Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget recently approved a compliance fee increase that will go into effect beginning with the next funding round. The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) will increase its compliance fee from $5 to $33 per unit for sites that receive new LIHTC funding.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., recently introduced the Renters Tax Credit Act of 2014 (H.R. 4479), which would provide a tax credit to apartment owners and lenders that subsidize the cost of lower rents for low-income households. The renter’s credit combines the concepts of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and project-based rental assistance and would cover the difference between the fair market rent of a unit and 30 percent of the qualified renter’s income.
Although the low-income housing tax credit program started less than 30 years ago, many sites are now operating after their initial 15-year compliance period—that is, in the “extended use period,” which preserves rental affordability for at least an additional 15 years as required by federal regulations.
In 2012, HUD and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) introduced a new Multifamily Low Income Housing Tax Credit Pilot Program intended to speed project financing of tax credit sites. Before, the Section 223(f) program for FHA-insured loans couldn’t be used for substantial rehabilitation projects; however, HUD expanded its usual concept of moderate rehabilitation to allow certain tax credit projects to take advantage of the streamlined 223(f) process.
By its original design, the key features of the pilot include:
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., recently introduced the National Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2014 (S. 2233), a bill that would increase the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC) allocations in states that included a federally declared disaster area in 2012 or 2013. For LIHTC allocations, each state would receive the greater of the amount of $8 multiplied by the state’s disaster-area population or 50 percent of the state housing credit ceiling for 2013.
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