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A new analysis by Freddie Mac has concluded that over the past five years, individuals living in apartments with rents restricted through the LIHTC program have saved thousands of dollars annually compared to similar, market-rate properties. Authored by Freddie Mac Multifamily’s Research and Modeling team, the new research looks at nine representative counties across the United States and concludes that in those areas, the average LIHTC-restricted rent was 38 percent lower than the average market rate rent in 2017.

President Donald Trump recently announced that he will nominate tax attorney Charles Rettig to be the next IRS chief. His five-year term would run from Nov. 13, 2017, when John Koskinen’s term expired. David Kautter, assistant secretary of the Treasury, Tax Policy, has been the acting commissioner since Koskinen’s term ended.

The IRS recently issued the second quarter update to its 2017-18 Priority Guidance Plan. The IRS had issued the initial 2017-2018 Priority Guidance Plan in October 2017. The plan gives an overview of the projects that the IRS intends to address in the plan year ending June 30, 2018. As in prior years, the IRS updates the plan periodically to reflect additional guidance that it intends to publish. With this update, additions include guidance for Opportunity Zones. And still on the priority list is LIHTC compliance monitoring final regulations.

The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution recently released its annual report, Metro Monitor. Metro Monitor tracks economic progress in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. using an Inclusive Growth Index. The report shows widespread but uneven progress across most metropolitan areas between 2015 and 2016, and racial disparities in relative poverty persist.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently set new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2018 through 2020. The FHFA is required by the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to set annual housing goals for mortgages purchased by Fannie and Freddie. The housing goals apply to multifamily mortgages, and there are three categories: low-income, very low-income home, and small multifamily low-income.

An op-ed by Sue Reynolds, president & CEO of Community Housing Works, and Matt Schwartz, president & CEO of California Housing Partnership, published in the San Diego Union Tribune notes that the adoption of last year’s tax reform legislation has weakened the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. The op-ed explains that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the top corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, which has reduced pricing and subsequent production for the Housing Credit.

The Boston University Initiative on Cities recently released the results of its 2017 survey of 115 mayors of cities with at least 75,000 residents. The study was sponsored by Citi Community Development and the Rockefeller Foundation. The study found that 51 percent of the mayors surveyed identified housing costs as one of the top three factors that prompts residents to move away from their city. And only 13 percent of the mayors thought their city’s current housing stock matched residents’ housing needs very well or extremely well.

Since President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, the price investors are willing to pay for LIHTC’s has dropped and may fall further because the new law reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent starting in 2018. This change will sharply reduce the need companies will have for such tax benefits. However, since passage, some factors will help offset the expected lower demand for LIHTCs.

A recent study from the Urban Institute entitled, “The Relationship between Housing and Asthma among School-Age Children,” used data from the 2015 American Housing Survey (AHS) to explore connections between housing and childhood asthma. The study found that that renters with children are more likely than homeowners with children to report asthma triggers, like exposure to smoke, mold, leaks, and roaches or rodents, in their homes and to have at least one child with asthma.  

A new study entitled, “Unstable Housing and Caregiver and Child Health in Renter Families,” from Boston Medical Center’s Children’s HealthWatch program finds housing instability, including chronically late rent payments, can affect the mental and physical health of family members of all ages.