TAX CREDITS CREATE AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING
By Steve Wright
The State of Ohio also now requires projects that receive tax credits -- family, senior, disabled and permanent supportive housing for the homeless – to remain affordable for 30 years. The demand for low income housing remains so high that the state is still only capable of funding about one out of every four applications each year.
To further assist with gap financing, Ohio created a housing trust fund. To generate dollars for the trust fund, the state doubled the fee people pay for recording all official documents with the County Recorders.
Conrad Egan, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), praised the federal tax credit program administered by states for its “overall efficiency, economy of delivery and longtime sustainability.”
But he said affordable housing is too much of a “lasagna deal,” with several layers of financing required in addition to tax credits to make an affordable rental project’s numbers work.
Egan said it would be easier for affordable rentals to be created if all the layers of funding were done in one cycle, so developers would not be carrying land costs and hamstringed from breaking ground until several different agencies approve their projects.
“Nothing drives developers crazy like a lack of predictability,” he said.
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