Forum to Examine Future of Affordable Tax-Credit Properties
The future of affordable low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties will be examined by NAHB’s Housing Credit Group at its annual Issues Forum, which will be held on Sept. 29 in Columbus, OH, just prior to the association’s fall board of directors meeting.
When the tax-credit program was started in 1987, participants were required to keep their properties affordable for 15 years in order to reap the tax benefits. For the earliest tax credit properties, that 15-year period is about to expire, and the credit group will examine the possibility that some, perhaps many, of these properties will be moved out of the affordable housing stock.
One of the presenters at the forum this fall — Beth Mullen, of the accounting firm of Reznick, Fedder and Silverman in Sacramento, CA — says she sees three options for owners of LIHTC properties.
“First, you can do nothing — just continue to hold the property with the original investors,” says Mullen. “If your company has an affiliate that manages the property, you’ll continue to make money that way. But it will be easier, because you are no longer bound by the federal program’s mandates.”
But some investors may want out, so the general partner might opt to buy them out, she said, which is the second option.