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On Oct. 19, the Social Security Administration announced a Cost of Living (COLA) increase of 3.6 percent. This is the first increase in two years and will be effective with the January 2012 benefit payment. Shortly after this announcement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that premiums for Medicare Part B coverage for physician and outpatient services will increase less than projected next year, and that the deductible will actually decrease. Premiums will go up $3.50, to $99.90 per month for 2012.
On Oct. 3, House Ways and Means Committee member Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced legislation, H.R. 3076, that would amend the Housing Credit to make formerly homeless youth who are students eligible for Housing Credit-financed housing.
On Sept. 30, HUD released its final fair market rents (FMRs), which are used in the determination of area median family income and their associated income limits, for fiscal year (FY) 2012. They took effect Oct. 1. HUD uses FMRs to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, and initial rents for certain housing assistance payments contracts.
A study recently released by Reznick Group, a national CPA firm, shows that the operating performance of apartment properties financed with housing tax credits improved significantly during the years 2008-10.
On Aug. 19, HUD published proposed fair market rents (FMRs) for fiscal year (FY) 2012. FMRs are used to determine payment standard amounts for several programs, including the Housing Choice Voucher program. They also affect the calculation of rent limits for the low-income housing tax credit program.
Section 2002 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 requires HUD to collect certain data for low-income housing tax credit tenants. According to HERA, states are required to submit demographic data including race, disability status, and partial Social Security numbers for each person residing in low-income housing tax credit-financed units on Dec. 31 of the previous year. Specifically, they are required to collect the following data:
The legislation signed by the President on Aug. 2 calls for a two-step increase in the federal debt ceiling plus spending cuts of about $917 billion. It also created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which has the goal of slashing an additional $1.5 trillion from the deficit over the coming decade. According to the plan, the committee consists of an evenly split, 12-member bipartisan “Super Committee.”
A few weeks before Congress passed the debt plan on Aug. 2, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn released his own deficit-reduction plan, which included the elimination of the low-income housing tax credit program. Ending the tax credit program would save at least $57 billion over the next 10 years, according to his 620-page “Back in Black” report, his proposal to slash the deficit by $9 trillion over the next decade. The move to eliminate LIHTCs drew a sharp response from affordable housing advocates.
The impact of low-income housing tax credits on the taxable value of real property had been a subject of controversy in Oklahoma for many years before a recent court ruling definitively stated that the credits are to be excluded from calculations of taxable value [Stillwater Housing Assoc. v. Rose, April 2011]. As a result of this decision, there may be lower tax assessments for many low-income housing properties in Oklahoma.
The IRS recently issued Notice 2011-47, which grants certain tax credit sites relief from some Section 42 requirements in the wake of devastation caused by severe storms and tornadoes in Missouri that began on April 19.
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