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Building the Case: Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Health
Evidence is building that housing affordability, the neighborhood’s environment and conditions within the home are all important determinants of health, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. As a result, states and affordable housing development agencies are beginning to look at ways the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit may be used to improve health. To read the report, click on the Web Link provided.
Industry Trends
"Public Housing Goes Green"
"Affordable Housing Isn’t Just an Urban Issue—Suburban Planners Are Facing It, Too"
Tax Issues and Tax Reform
"House, Senate Republicans Reach Deal on Final Tax Bill"
HUD-Related Activity
"Former FHA Commissioner Proposes Agency Reforms"
State and Local Activities
"Florida Group Supports Affordable Housing Reforms"
"Missouri Commission Hears Pleas to Maintain Tax Credits for Low-Income Housing"
Association News
Save the Date for the LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit
Make Your Voice Heard
LeadingAge Provides Disaster Relief Funds to Members
HUD Responds to Recent Disasters
Experts Discuss Housing Disaster Recovery Considerations
NAHMA Releases 2017 Affordable 100 List
Become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) Company!
Upcoming Events
Industry Trends
Public Housing Goes Green
Multi-Housing News (11/14/17) Bulman, Mallory
An increasing number of public housing authorities are accepting sustainability projects to offset costs, boost operating efficiency, and enhance the quality of life of residents, according to panelists at the 2017 Greenbuild conference. Tina Miller with the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) of Massachusetts said CHA was more than halfway to its goal of making commercial, public, and residential buildings 20-percent more energy efficient by 2023, largely thanks to CHA's participation in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rental Assistance Demonstration program. Miller noted converting CHA's housing stock into low-income tax credit properties with Section 8 subsidies is "much more beneficial than the public-operating subsidies," and said for every $1 saved with the energy reduction, they realize about $11 in equity brought into that property. Meanwhile, Ellen Sargent with the Chicago Housing Authority said her organization has partnered with BIT Building to boost the adoption of sustainability best practices in existing buildings via the BIT Building Program. Bomee Jung with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developed the NextGeneration NYCHA Sustainability Agenda to outline plans to cut costs and improve residents' quality of life. Such measures include generating 25 megawatts of power from solar panels by 2025, investing $300 million in retrofitting master-planned developments and removing heat and hot water outages and inefficiencies, and monitoring, testing, and regularly adjusting building systems.
Affordable Housing Isn’t Just an Urban Issue—Suburban Planners Are Facing It, Too
Denver Post (12/05/17) Aguilar, John
The redevelopment of a former mall in Westminster, Colo., is being promoted as an opportunity to address the growing problem of scarce affordable housing across the Denver metro area. At least 118 apartments will be open to people earning 30 percent to 60 percent of the area median income. They will be among more than 600 affordable housing units in Westminster that have been proposed, are planned, or are under construction as local home values and rental prices continue to rise. In November, Westminster passed a financial agreement under which the city will provide the developer, Eaton Housing LLC, with more than $5 million in loans, land, and forgiveness of building fees as part of an incentive package. Meanwhile, Denver has established a 10-year, $150 million affordable housing fund. The Colorado Division of Housing estimates that more than 272,000 low-income Coloradans are spending more than half their income on housing, while more than $102 million in state funding has gone into developing affordable housing since 2010. In October, Commerce City announced the groundbreaking of a 216-unit affordable housing project, dubbed North Range Crossings, which will be open to tenants making $33,660 a year — or 60 percent of the area median income. The City Council approved incentives to the developer in the form of waived fees and tax breaks. Diana Elliott, a senior research associate for the Urban Institute, says cities and counties that own real estate have an advantage in negotiating deals with the private sector and guiding projects so that affordable housing is encouraged and well planned.
Tax Issues and Tax Reform
House, Senate Republicans Reach Deal on Final Tax Bill
Wall Street Journal (12/14/17) Rubin, Richard; Hughes, Siobhan
The highest-earning Americans will get a lower tax rate and corporations will pay slightly more than in previous plans under a deal House and Senate Republicans reached on the party’s competing tax-overhaul bills. Full details of what is likely to be a $1.4 trillion tax cut over a decade will be released this week. If the House and Senate both pass the measure in votes that could come next week, President Donald Trump could sign it into law before Christmas. The corporate rate would be 21 percent, people familiar with the deal said. That is higher than the 20 percent rate Republicans included in the House and Senate tax bills. It would take effect in 2018. The final agreement is expected to steer clear of some of the more controversial changes in the House plan, including the end of tax-free private activity bonds used for projects such as affordable housing.
HUD-Related Activity
Former FHA Commissioner Proposes Agency Reforms
Affordable Housing Finance (12/07/17) Kimura, Donna
Congress may soon start focusing on reforming the housing finance system, in particular the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Carol Galante, a former FHA commissioner, has released a paper outlining several key proposals. "We've got to think about these systems and how they work to complement each other or how they could work in competition and come up with the right interplay between them. That's No. 1," Galante says. Nearly one in five home mortgages is FHA-insured, while the FHA's multifamily insurance facilitates liquidity for the rental housing market and is a stable source of capital for affordable housing development. Galante offers seven recommendations, including refining FHA lending to better target low-income households, equipping the agency with temporary emergency powers to suspend FHA insurance programs or make emergency modifications to regulations, and providing budget flexibility. In "Mission Critical: Retooling FHA to Meet America's Housing Needs," she also notes that the agency lacks control of its budget and the support services it relies upon. Galante proposes the FHA receive a baseline appropriation that is supplemented by retention of a portion of the revenue it generates from its mortgage-insurance activities. In President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget request, FHA's total budget request for salaries, expenses, and administrative contracts is approximately $530 million. Under Galante's recommendations, this appropriation could be cut to approximately $265 million. The report also asserts that "both FHA’s appropriated and self-generated funds should be separated from the rest of the HUD budget so that it can be assured that all funds remain under its control and are not used as budgetary resources or offsets for other HUD programs."
State and Local Activities
Florida Group Supports Affordable Housing Reforms
Orlando Sentinel (12/09/17) Shanklin, Mary
The Florida Housing Finance Corporation on Dec. 8 voted to recommend several proposed affordable housing reforms. The recommendations came from a state task force that spent the bulk of the year examining housing issues. A key recommendation endorsed by the housing agency was granting local governments more leeway to focus on rental assistance. "With the decrease in the homeownership rate in Florida, local governments should evaluate the need for affordable rental housing in their communities and consider using ... funds to assist in developing new affordable rental housing," the report states. The agency also recommended that the state's legislature stop using state funds earmarked for affordable housing for general state operating funds as well as waive construction impact fees for affordable housing. Developers say these fees are so expensive that they make low-rent apartments too costly for struggling families and the elderly.
Missouri Commission Hears Pleas to Maintain Tax Credits for Low-Income Housing
Columbia Daily Tribune (12/01/17) Keller, Rudi
The Missouri Housing Development Commission held a public hearing on Dec. 1 in Columbia, Mo., drawing about 40 people. They were invited to comment on the commission’s Nov. 17 decision against issuing state tax credits to complement federal tax credits that finance new apartment construction. The plan for offering only federal tax credits in the coming year is up for final approval at the commission’s Dec. 19 meeting in Jefferson City, Mo. Gov. Eric Greitens is leading the effort to dismantle the current system after receiving a report in June from the Governor’s Committee on Simple, Fair and Low Taxes that found the credits result in 42 cents worth of housing for every dollar of state tax credits issued. The tax committee recommended replacing the credits with a low-interest loan program to directly finance the construction, a move that would require legislative action. Phil Steinhaus, CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority, said plans for rehabilitating 237 units are uncertain in the absence of future credits. Robyn Kaufman, executive director of Boone County Family Resources, said her agency built 28 apartments for clients with developmental disabilities. "These stories and more would not have been possible without the low-income housing tax credits that were critical to make the development of Boone Point apartments, and the affordable rent, a reality," she said. The hearing officers, who gave no comment about whether the commission would alter its course when it meets, also heard from occupants of tax-credit-built housing, including Pamela Hildebrand, whose medical problems forced her to rely on Social Security.
Association News
Save the Date for the LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit
Broaden your perspective and expand your thinking, at the pre-eminent leadership forum for top-tier executives in the aging services field. The PEAK Leadership Summit is your professional community’s meeting place; you will be amazed at what you see from here. Save the date and join the country’s top aging services business leaders, experts and advocates in Washington, D.C., March 18-21, 2018. For more information, click on the Web Link provide below.
Make Your Voice Heard
Congress is currently considering many issues that affect the lives of seniors and their service providers. We need your help to make sure Congress hears how their actions impact you. Please take a moment to contact your representatives and make your voice heard. Click on the Web Link to find out how you can help.
LeadingAge Provides Disaster Relief Funds to Members
LeadingAge has collected more than $400,000 in donations from nearly 1,000 individuals and organizations for its disaster relief fund. One hundred percent of the money being collected is distributed directly to member organizations with the highest priority needs to cover a range of essentials including basic supplies such as food and water. The funds are available to communities, staff and residents. For more information or to donate, click the Web Link provided below.
HUD Responds to Recent Disasters
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in late November plans to continue to pay on vouchers for rental assistance subsidy in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands through at least January. In a call with stakeholders, HUD also indicated that it will be extending annual resident recertifications from 12 months to 15 months, and encouraging any properties still in recovery mode to feel free to request deferral/waivers in the event they are contacted for a REAC physical inspection or HUD/PBCA management review. Click on the Web Link below for more information.
Experts Discuss Housing Disaster Recovery Considerations
An expert panel of attorneys, compliance experts and housing industry leaders discussed the topic of disaster recovery at the Novogradac 2017 Credit and Bond Financing for Affordable Housing Conference in New Orleans in October. The panel shared views on everything from initial responses and compliance best practices to longer-term rebuilding efforts and the outlook for additional funding. To read the on the panel discussion, click the Web Link provided.
NAHMA Releases 2017 Affordable 100 List
The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) announces its 2017 Affordable 100—a list of the 100 largest affordable multifamily property management companies ranked by affordable unit counts—is available on its website, click Web Link below, as well as in the June issues of NAHMA News, Affordable Housing Finance magazine and Units magazine. The NAHMA website version expands the list to the top 120 largest multifamily property management companies. In addition, the online version presents two specialty lists: the 25 largest housing credit (LIHTC) property management companies and the 25 largest Rural Development program property management companies.
Become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) Company!
The three national associations sponsoring the Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) certification program invite your company to become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® Company, a corporate designation created specifically to honor management companies that successfully maintain a significant portion of their properties and staff to the high standards of the SHCM certification program.
The SHCM program, developed especially for management companies involved with properties developed and operated under the Low-Income Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, is sponsored by the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA), the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI), and LeadingAge.
Earning the SHCM Company designation publicly demonstrates that a company is among the finest managers of LIHTC housing in the industry.
For more details on how to become a SHCM Company, click on the Web Link below.
Upcoming Events
NAA Campus Connex
February 13-14, 2018
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NAHMA Winter Meeting
March 4-6, 2018
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NAA Advocate
March 13-16, 2018
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LeadingAge 2018 PEAK Leadership Summit
March 18-21, 2018
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NAA Apartmentalize
June 13-16, 2018
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NAHMA Fall Meeting
October 21-23, 2018
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LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo
October 28-31, 2018
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