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.
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 2014-2015 Priority Guidance Plan will identify guidance projects that the IRS intends to work on actively as priorities during the period from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., recently introduced a bill, entitled the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act of 2014, to encourage the development of mixed-income housing. The bill would institute a 50-50-120 minimum set-aside test in lieu of the 40-60 minimum set-aside test.
The Oklahoma Affordable Housing Act (H.B. 3099) recently passed the Oklahoma State House of Representatives by a margin of 75-13, and has now moved to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. This measure would match the amount of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits awarded for a qualified project and would be administered by the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency.
On Feb. 26, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) released a draft tax reform proposal that would modify the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The proposal came about from a process that involved more than 30 separate Congressional hearings dedicated to tax reform, 11 separate bipartisan tax reform working groups created in conjunction with Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich.), three discussion drafts looking at discrete areas of the tax code, and more than 14,000 public comments at TaxReform.Gov. Here are the changes proposed in the tax reform draft:
On Feb. 19, the National Housing Conference’s Center for Housing Policy released its annual Housing Landscape report entitled, “The Housing Affordability Challenges of America’s Working Households.” In summarizing the affordable housing challenges of low- and moderate-income working households, the report found that these households have greater affordability challenges than the overall population.
Colorado State Representative Crisanta Duran (D-District 5) and State Senator Jessie Ulilbarri (D-District 21) recently introduced HB-1017, which proposes to renew Colorado’s State Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. Colorado previously had a State Housing Credit in 2001 and 2002. The State Housing Credit helped produce approximately 800 affordable rental units, and raised more than $20 million in private sector equity for the development of affordable rental housing.
HUD recently issued a notice requesting public comment on its efforts to establish a baseline assessment of the renewable energy capacity in HUD’s public housing and federally assisted multifamily housing portfolios. The assessment will support President Obama's Climate Action Plan, which calls for the installation of 100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2020 at LIHTC sites, Rural Development properties, and public housing and multifamily-assisted properties.
“The simple fact is we are in the midst of the worst rental affordability crisis that this country has known," HUD Secretary Donovan said at a recent housing conference.
This statement coincided with the release of a report entitled "America's Rental Housing: Evolving Markets and Needs." Issued by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the report discusses how the recent economic turmoil underscored the many advantages of renting and raised the barriers to homeownership, sparking a surge in demand that has buoyed rental markets across the country.
On Nov. 15, HUD published the Difficult to Develop Areas (DDAs) for 2014 and indicated that the Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) that were published April 20, 2012, will remain in effect. HUD also announced that in 2016 it will begin to use small-area fair market rents instead of metropolitan-area fair market rents to designate metropolitan DDAs.
The Housing and Insurance Subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services recently held a hearing on the implementation of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The hearing’s purpose was to assess the ongoing implementation of the law.
Congress enacted the Biggert-Waters legislation to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years while enacting reforms to help address the program’s $24 billion debt load.
RSS