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Improvements Sought in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

The nation’s home builders are gearing up to seek changes in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to make it a more effective and efficient program and to increase the amount of affordable housing it produces.

With the goal of deriving the most benefit from the program with the least amount of impact on the federal budget, NAHB Multifamily’s Housing Credit Group (HCG), is seeking the following improvements in the program:

• Fix tax credit percentages at 4% and 9%, instead of current floating percentages pegged to interest rates
• Make the 10% carry-forward requirement incontestable once a building is placed in service
• Allow separate ownership of tax-credit units and market-rate units in mixed-income properties

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• Use the LIHTC’s next-available unit rule instead of the tax-exempt bond rule in program projects financed with tax-exempt bonds

These four proposals, approved as policy by the NAHB Board of Directors at its January meeting in Las Vegas, complement four other program-enhancement proposals NAHB is seeking to implement:

• Allow new construction and substantial rehabilitation expenditures to be eligible for the 9% tax credit even if they are financed using federally appropriated dollars (this would not apply to tax-exempt bond financing)
• Allow HOME-assisted properties in high-cost areas to receive the 30% tax credit basis boost available to other developments in those areas
• Change the name of the program from “Low-Income Housing Tax Credit” to “Affordable Housing Tax Credit”
• Eliminate the restriction on the use of tax credits for Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation projects

The Housing Credit Group’s mission is to protect and expand the tax credit program, which it considers to be the nation’s single most important catalyst for affordable housing.

For more information on these proposals, e-mail Greg Brown, or call him at 899-368-5242 x8207.
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