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Banking and Community

ISSUE 2 2009

Perspectives
F e d e r a l

Rese r v e

B a n k

o f

D a l l a s

A

s the LIHTC

program faces the biggest
challenges of its nearly
25-year history, it’s
imperative to look
holistically at the
evolution and
distribution patterns
of this housing
production program.

Low-Income Housing
Tax Credits in Texas:

Achievements and Challenges

ISSUE 2 2009

Banking and
Community

Perspectives
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Community Affairs Office
P.O. Box 655906
Dallas, TX 75265-5906
Gloria Vasquez Brown
Vice President, Public Affairs
gloria.v.brown@dal.frb.org
Alfreda B. Norman
Assistant Vice President and
Community Affairs Officer
alfreda.norman@dal.frb.org
Wenhua Di
Economist
wenhua.di@dal.frb.org
Julie Gunter
Senior Community Affairs Advisor
julie.gunter@dal.frb.org
Jackie Hoyer
Houston Branch
Senior Community Affairs Advisor
jackie.hoyer@dal.frb.org
Roy Lopez
Community Affairs Specialist
roy.lopez@dal.frb.org
Elizabeth Sobel Blum
Community Affairs Research Associate
elizabeth.sobel@dal.frb.org
Editor: Kathy Thacker
Designer: Samantha Coplen
Researchers and Writers: Roy Lopez and
Wenhua Di
May 2009
The views expressed are the authors’ and
should not be attributed to the Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal
Reserve System. Articles may be reprinted
if the source is credited and a copy is
provided to the Community Affairs Office.

M

ultifamily rental housing is a critical component of our region’s changing

housing needs. Population growth and economic considerations suggest that multifamily
housing will be even more important in Texas moving forward. The low-income housing
tax credit (LIHTC) program is the primary vehicle for producing affordable rental housing, but the program is in a period of rapid transition. Repercussions of the economic
contraction have spread throughout the community development field, including the
LIHTC program. Financial institutions that have been longtime investors in the program
are balancing ways to mitigate risk and still meet community development needs.
The LIHTC program has produced 2.5 million units throughout its history. Like most
other states, Texas leans heavily on this public–private partnership, which brings the
Internal Revenue Service, the state housing agency, investors and developers together in
pursuit of solutions for low-income residents seeking quality, affordable housing.
This issue of Banking and Community Perspectives provides a program overview, a
current market-condition analysis and an update on recent regulatory changes. As the
LIHTC program faces the biggest challenges of its nearly 25-year history, it’s imperative
to look holistically at the evolution and distribution patterns of this housing production
program.

On the Cover
Low-income housing tax credit project in
Austin (center). Photo by Roy Lopez.

This publication and our webzine,
e-Perspectives, are available on the
Dallas Fed website,
www.dallasfed.org.

2

Alfreda B. Norman
Assistant Vice President and Community Affairs Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in Texas:
Achievements and Challenges

F

or many low-income working families, the search for housing can be
frustrating. In Texas, housing advocates point
to a lack of decent, affordable rental housing
as an obstacle. However, one national program
has provided more options for these families
for over two decades. The low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program produced or
preserved 125,000 affordable rental units and
infused $9 billion of private investment in 2007
alone, according to the National Council of
State Housing Agencies.
Multifamily rental housing is vital to the
vibrancy of the economy because it meets the
needs of households that do not qualify for
or want a mortgage as well as those that have
experienced foreclosure. With the nation in
recession, the need for affordable rental housing has grown. At the same time, financing
for many low-income housing development
programs has become more difficult to obtain.
The LIHTC program was born as a part of
the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Today, this Ronald
Reagan-era initiative has developed into the
largest program for producing affordable rental
housing. Primarily serving residents making
60 percent of area median income or less, the
LIHTC program tenders a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit to private investors in return for
project equity. The equity raised reduces the
amount of financing required, allowing rents
to be more affordable. The typical amount of
tax-credit equity raised in a 9 percent tax-credit
transaction is between 45 percent and 75 percent of the development costs.
Investors that have traditionally included
financial institutions and corporations purchase
tax credits to lower their federal tax liability.
Financial institutions receive positive Commu-

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

nity Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration if
they purchase credits for a development within
their CRA assessment areas.1 They also earn attractive rates of return. The yields on tax credit
investments in recent years have averaged
between 5 and 7 percent.2 In exchange for
the investment, the program provides federal
tax credits for a 10-year period. Federal law
requires that the rents and incomes remain
restricted for 15 years, but Texas employs an
extended land-use agreement that retains the
units in the affordable housing stock for at
least 30 years.
The Texas program, administered by the
Texas Department of Housing and Community
Affairs (TDHCA) with some oversight from
the state Legislature, has allocated approximately $750 million in tax credits to developers
since its inception. This infusion of equity has
contributed to the development or planned
development of nearly 200,000 affordable
housing units. Competition for the credits has
been fierce among developers. TDHCA has
133 active applications seeking a combined
$161 million in tax credits in the 2009 allocation cycle. With an estimated $74 million in
credits to allocate this year, many projects will
not be funded.
Applications are rated on a point system.
The stated goal of Texas’ LIHTC program is to
encourage diversity through the broad geographic allocation of credits, promote maximum use of the available tax credit amount
and allocate credits among as many different
developments as possible without compromising housing quality.3
LIHTC properties can include new
construction and the redevelopment of underutilized properties. The program in Texas

also requires a minimum 15 percent at-risk
development set-aside to allocate to projects
that have other subsidies set to expire.
Understanding the distribution of these
properties across the state and the current
financial challenges can provide insight on the
impact and direction of this program.

LIHTC Projects in Texas
This study reviews and analyzes TDHCA
data on LIHTC projects from 1989 to 2007.
The data cover 1,583 projects with a total
of 187,646 units. About 95 percent of these
units, or 177,908, are reserved for low-income
tenants.
Figure 1 shows tax credit allocations
cross-tabulated with the number of units created. The red line shows a general increase
in allocations to Texas LIHTC properties since
1989. The substantial rise in state allocations
by Congress in 2001 and the booming production of bond transactions around the same

Figure 1

LIHTC Units and Program
Funding in Texas
Units (thousands)
25

Awards (millions of dollars)
90
80

20

70
60

15

50
40

10

30
20

5

10
0

0
’89 ’91 ’93 ’95 ’97 ’99 ’01 ’03 ’05 ’07

SOURCE: Texas Department of Housing and Community
Affairs LIHTC database.

Banking and Community Perspectives

3

Figure 2

Distribution of LIHTC Developments in Texas Counties
A. Projects and Rural Population

Number of LIHTC projects
10
1
50
5

B. LIHTC Units per 1,000 Housing Units

0–1
100

2–10
11–20

Rural/total population (percent)
0–20
60.01–80
20.01–40
80.01–100

21–30
31–40
> 40

40.01–60

C. LIHTC Awards per Person in Poverty

D. Key to Texas Counties

Awards (dollars)
0–6

Bexar
Dallas
Deaf Smith
Ellis
El Paso
Harris
Hidalgo
Hunt

7–100
101–200
201–300
301–500
501–800

Kaufman
La Salle
Pecos
Rockwall
Sutton
Tarrant
Travis
Wilbarger

SOURCES: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs LIHTC database, 1989–2007; population and housing data from 2000 census.

time augmented the tax credits awarded.4 The
green line illustrates the number of LIHTC units
developed from 1989 to 2007.
LIHTC projects are located in 184 of
Texas’ 254 counties. Counties without LIHTC
projects are generally found in the sparsely
populated areas of the Panhandle and West
Texas (Figure 2A).
Not surprisingly, counties with the largest
populations in Texas have the greatest number

4

of LIHTC properties. Figure 2B details the
distribution of LIHTC units per 1,000 housing
units. Large metropolitan areas have higher
densities of LIHTC units. However, some lesspopulated, nonmetro counties such as Deaf
Smith, Wilbarger, Pecos, Sutton and La Salle
have relatively large numbers of LIHTC units,
while some densely populated counties such as
Bexar (San Antonio) have relatively small numbers of LIHTC units per 1,000 housing units.

Banking and Community Perspectives

To examine the distribution of tax credits
by population, Figure 2C displays LIHTC dollars
awarded per person in poverty.5 Large central
cities have the most developments in sheer
raw numbers but have not received the largest
awards if the population in poverty is considered. Counties around central cities generally have received substantially higher LIHTC
awards per person in poverty.
For example, Dallas County is the state’s

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Figure 3

LIHTC Projects and Units Produced from 1989 to 2007
45,000

250

40,000
200

35,000
30,000
Total projects

150

25,000

Total units

20,000
100
15,000
10,000

50

5,000
0

Harris

Dallas

Tarrant

Bexar

El Paso

Hidalgo

Travis

0

SOURCE: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs LIHTC database.

second-largest recipient of LIHTC awards;
however, its poor population has not received
as many credit allocations as the surrounding
counties. Counties near Dallas, such as Tarrant
(Fort Worth and Arlington), Ellis, Kaufman,
Rockwall and Hunt have received more taxcredit awards. Counties around large metros
such as Harris (Houston), Travis (Austin) and
Bexar have also received larger amounts of tax
credits per person in poverty.
While suburban counties do not necessarily have large low-income populations,
they are more likely than the central cities to
have raw land available for development. Tax
incentives, lower project costs, and demand
for workforce housing attract many developers
and investors to these undeveloped parcels in
suburban counties.
Figure 3 shows the number of LIHTC
projects and units in the seven counties with
the most LIHTC projects in Texas.
The average size of LIHTC projects is
bigger in large metros and smaller in small
metros. For example, LIHTC properties average 186 units in Harris County and 181 units
in Tarrant County. Parkwoods Apartments
(now Tierra Linda) in South Dallas has more
than 800 units, and La Casita Apartments in
Houston has more than 600 units. Properties
in El Paso and Hidalgo average only 66 and 74
units, respectively. Rehabilitation projects tend

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

to be larger in scale.
Large low-income properties often generate concerns about concentrated poverty. A
tradeoff can exist between the economy of
scale of a LIHTC project and its fulfillment of
social integration goals. To address the issue,
the state Legislature mandated that LIHTC developments be at least one linear mile from an
existing tax credit project or not be in a census
tract with a large number of existing affordable
units.6
Counter to the perception that many
public housing projects cluster the nonwork-

ing poor, LIHTC properties are typically for
working-class families with stable jobs and
incomes. Most LIHTC projects are designed for
community living and managed by experienced companies. These projects must meet
state housing quality standards annually.
Market demand usually determines the
location of LIHTC properties. Table 1 shows
several census tract characteristics of the seven
counties with the largest number of LIHTC
projects in Texas.
In all of these counties, more than
90 percent of LIHTC units are reserved for
low-income residents. If the project does not
maintain rent and income restrictions, the investors will be subject to recapture provisions.
Properties, therefore, must maintain detailed
records demonstrating the rent and income of
each low-income tenant.
The average tract’s median income as a
share of area median income is approximately
74 percent, with El Paso the highest (97.4
percent) and Dallas the lowest (60.4 percent).
Many of these tracts have poverty near or
above 20 percent, with Hidalgo the highest
(40.7 percent) and Tarrant the lowest (16.4
percent). Although almost all LIHTC tenants
are low income, the projects are located in
both lower- and higher-income communities. In Dallas, Bexar, El Paso and Hidalgo,
LIHTC tenants live in census tracts in which
the majority of the population earns less than

Table 1

Characteristics of Census Tracts with LIHTC Projects
County

Total projects

Low-income
units
(percent)

Average tract median
income as share of
area median income
(percent)

Average tract
population in
poverty (percent)

Average tract
population below
200 percent of
poverty (percent)

Average tract
minority
population
(percent)

Harris

221

94.4

73.1

22.4

47.5

71.7

Dallas

160

95.2

60.4

23.2

52.1

74.2

Tarrant

88

94.8

80.8

16.4

38.8

48.2

Bexar

79

92.0

71.1

24.0

55.4

80.9

El Paso

71

99.0

97.4

25.2

55.6

86.3

Hidalgo

66

97.7

90.8

40.7

72.3

93.1

Travis

61

94.7

68.6

19.6

44.9

68.6

NOTE: 2000 census-tract-level data are available for 90 percent of the projects; poverty data are available for 98 percent of projects with
census-tract-level data.
SOURCES: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs LIHTC database, 1989–2007; 2000 census.

Banking and Community Perspectives

5

200 percent of poverty. In Harris, Tarrant and
Travis, however, LIHTC tenants live in census
tracts in which the majority earns more than
200 percent of poverty. LIHTC properties are
more likely to be found in neighborhoods with
higher proportions of minority residents.
To further examine the integration of
LIHTC properties, Figure 4 shows the composition of income levels of census tracts in the
seven counties.
Except for El Paso and Hidalgo counties,
the majority of LIHTC projects are in low- or
moderate-income census tracts. Dallas has
more of these projects in low-income census
tracts and Bexar has more in moderate-income
tracts than the rest of the seven counties. The
shares of middle- and upper-income census
tracts with LIHTC projects vary substantially.
El Paso has more in upper-income tracts and
Hidalgo has more in middle-income tracts
than the rest of the counties.7 Tarrant has more
LIHTC projects in higher-income tracts than
other large metro counties analyzed.8
Overall, LIHTC projects in the seven
counties examined are in neighborhoods with
a variety of income levels and, in some cases,
have a significant presence in middle- and
upper-income areas. These findings suggest that the Texas LIHTC program may have
contributed to deconcentrating poverty and
integrating low-income households into
higher-income neighborhoods.

Figure 4

Income Levels of Census Tracts with LIHTC Properties
Percent
100

80

60

40

20

0

Harris

Dallas
Upper income

Tarrant

Bexar

Middle income

Travis

Calculating the Tax Credit
One of the complexities of the tax credit is that actual tax credit rates are not exactly 9 percent and 4
percent annually. Rates also vary on a monthly basis, fluctuating with federal borrowing costs. The tax credit
rates are calculated and released monthly by the Treasury Department. Any federal funds used for construction
must be subtracted from the eligible basis. This is to avoid a double federal subsidy.
Extra tax credits are given for properties that are located in a qualified census tract (QCT) or a difficult
development area (DDA). Developers are eligible to receive a 30 percent qualified-basis boost if they build in
these designated areas. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes a list of QCTs and
DDAs eligible for basis boost annually.
The table below shows a simplified example of the tax credit calculation for a $5 million project.

The Economic Slowdown

6

Hidalgo
Low income

SOURCES: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs LIHTC database, 1989–2007; Federal Financial Institutions Examination
Council designation of income levels, 2008.

Newly constructed apartment building

The LIHTC program has been greatly affected by the financial crisis disrupting projects
across the nation. Investor demand has fallen,
leaving many properties with capital gaps.
Prices for tax credits have dropped dramatically over the past year, meaning developers
are raising much less equity than they had
expected from their sales. As these gaps have
grown, it has become increasingly difficult to
float the necessary debt to make the projects a
reality. Tax credits were selling at approximately 90 cents on the dollar as recently as 2007. In
recent months, prices have dropped below 70
cents on the open market for $1 in tax reduction. Before the downturn, investors could easily raise $9 billion a year nationally in equity;

El Paso

Moderate income

Amount

Cost (construction and some soft costs)

$5,000,000

Ineligible costs (land acquisition, permanent financing fees, marketing)
=
x
=
x
=
x
=
x
=
Debt to finance

today, that figure is less than $4 billion, leaving
projects undercapitalized and unable to close.
Even with increased yields, investor demand
has waned. This means additional credits are
needed to finance some projects, while others
wait to be funded. The result is that as many

Banking and Community Perspectives

−$1,050,000
$3,950,000 (eligible basis)
100% low income (qualified units)
$3,950,000 (qualified basis)
8.35% (tax credit rate)
$329,825 (per year for 10 years)
10 years
$3,298,250 (total allocation amount)
$0.65 (equity price per credit on open market)
$2,143,863 (total project equity)
$2,856,137

as 1,000 projects containing nearly 150,000
units across the country are currently on hold.
With the financial losses that have been
generated by banks and investor corporations
in 2008 and 2009, tax credits are no longer
needed to offset their federal tax liabilities.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

A Case Study: Keller’s Aventine Apartments
When Venicia Woods and her two children were looking for rental housing
near the Fort Worth Alliance Corridor, she sought market-rate units but knew them
to be unaffordable in the area. As a loading dock administrator within the corridor,
her pay was well below the area median income. To her surprise, she found a home
in the corridor that was safe and filled with quality amenities. She found Aventine
Apartments in Keller, a 4 percent tax-credit property by longtime developer Granger
McDonald of Kerrville, Texas.
“The biggest selling point was its affordability,” Woods said. Rents were 30
to 50 percent below comparable housing found within this expanding pocket of
northern Tarrant County. A one-bedroom, 800-square-foot unit rents for $657.
Because the property is subsidized with tax credits, the built-in equity available through the tax credit program allows rents to be below market rate. With an
income of less than 60 percent of area median income, Woods qualified to live at
Aventine. Even if she were to exceed the 60 percent threshold, Woods would not be
required to relocate unless her income increased dramatically.
Her neighbors include local schoolteachers, police officers and firefighters
and employees of the burgeoning service industry within the Alliance Corridor.
“In an economic down market, we find ourselves near full occupancy. We
have even taken in residents with foreclosures,” said Melissa Johnson, assistant
manager at Aventine. The tax credit program allows property managers to screen

Adding to the price drop, the two largest buyers of tax credits are out of the market. Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, now under government
conservatorship, bought roughly 40 percent of
all tax credits in 2006 and 2007. This has left
a huge gap that other equity providers have
yet to fill. Fueling the turmoil, a 4 percent tax
credit, automatic with the use of tax-exempt
private-activity bonds, has been virtually eliminated as a tool because of market conditions.
This economic climate has affected most
LIHTC development budgets and, consequently, limited affordable housing starts. Both
developers and housing finance experts report
that projects are having trouble raising money
as investors have fled the market.9 “Now the
primary motivator behind the tax credit is the
CRA,” mentioned K. Nicole Flores with PNC
MultiFamily Capital.
In October, Congress tried to address the
problem with the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which increased the credit
allocation for LIHTCs by 10 percent for 2008
and 2009 to $2.20 per state resident. Despite
the volume increase, developers are still having
difficulty closing deals across the country. San
Antonio-based developer Dan Markson noted

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

tenants for past criminal activity and can obligate prospective tenants to prove they
have twice the amount of one month’s rent at the beginning of their leases. Proof of
employment is a requirement.
Aventine’s amenities include a swimming pool, two children’s playgrounds,
a media room and a host of social services such as fitness, financial education and
computer classes for adults and children.
Aventine is located in the Keller Independent School District, which was rated
“recognized” by the Texas Education Agency in 2008. “The children of Aventine
who attend public school in Keller contribute to greater socioeconomic diversity,”
said McDonald, the developer.
Developments like Aventine have been difficult to build in many uppermiddle-class neighborhoods in Texas because of organized opposition to any
affordable-housing development.
With a median household income of over $109,000, Keller has a 93 percent
homeownership rate and a median home price of over $281,000. In 2007, Keller
was among the top 50 best places to live, according to CNNMoney.com.
“I came to Aventine because the price was right, the school quality, and the
availability and diversity of jobs. It changed my life for the better,” said Woods, who
used to reside in inner-city Fort Worth.

in March, “Of those that received a 2008 Texas
allocation, only two deals have closed.”
Urban tax-credit projects are finding relatively more success than their rural counterparts. Traditional CRA-motivated investors from
mostly large financial institutions tend to focus
on LIHTC activity in urban markets because
examiners focus on larger assessment areas. If
seeking CRA credit, banks will primarily invest
in locations in which the majority of their
loans and deposits are made. Some local investors argue that this practice has led to LIHTC
gaps in rural markets, since smaller community
banks are unfamiliar with or not expected to
undertake CRA investments.10
“These geographic restrictions—where
banks are not receiving credit—need to be a
part of a comprehensive CRA reform package,”
said developer Steve Ford with Resolution Inc.
Markson said CRA is one issue; another
is banks’ application of the government’s
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).11 “Our
hope was that banks would use some of the
TARP money to stabilize their balance sheets
and free up some of the constraints found in
the capital markets,” he said in March. “However, what we hear is banks hoarding cash to

cushion against unforeseen losses.”
Advocates and developers both cite increased demand for affordable rental housing
due to job declines, more stringent underwriting standards for single-family home purchases
and the foreclosure crisis that has hit many
communities. Developers often mention the
positive economic impact of building quality affordable housing. In 2007, the National
Association of Home Builders estimated the
one-year local impact of a 100-unit tax credit
development to be $7.3 million in income, 151
jobs created and $783,000 in taxes and other
revenue for local governments.12
Investors in the tax credit market have
been floating proposals to make the program
more attractive to fellow investors. Ideas
include reducing the tax credit reimbursement period from 10 to five years; increasing
outreach to sell LIHTCs to individuals, smaller
financial institutions, and corporations such as
large oil companies that could benefit from the
program; and changing federal rules to serve
households earning up to 80 percent of area
median income instead of 60 percent.
“If we want to increase our investor pool,
the key would be to create a five-year carryback

Banking and Community Perspectives

7

PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
P.O. Box 655906
Dallas, TX 75265-5906

period. It is impossible to predict tax liability
over a 10-year period,” said Patrick Nash, managing director of J.P. Morgan Capital Corp. and
president of the Affordable Housing Investors
Council.
Developers continue to be cautious about
the future in Texas. They are looking to government subsidies and rescue programs and taking
unprecedented steps by returning tax credits to
the TDHCA—which can now be done without
penalty. Developers trying to enter the tax credit
market are being stymied as investors choose to
work with only the most experienced development teams.
TDHCA has been exploring options available to the state under the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus bill.
TDHCA’s board plans to address the undercapitalization with two programs, the Tax Credit
Exchange Program and the Home Investment
Partnership Program, commonly referred to as
the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP). The
programs attempt to keep the supply of multifamily affordable housing flowing.
The exchange program would permit
TDHCA to swap annual state credit ceilings for
cash with the Treasury Department at 85 cents
on the dollar and then offer those funds to developers to supplement or replace tax credits or
other sources in the financing structure. If credits are exchanged, TDHCA would be assured a
significant portion of a development’s funding is
made in cash, rather than in credits that would
have to be sold in an unstable market. The
program would be available to 40 percent of the
2009 allocation and 100 percent of the 2007 and

PAID

DALLAS, TEXAS
PERMIT NO. 151

2008 allocations that are unsold.
TCAP provides grant funding for capital
investment in projects via a formula-based
allocation to state housing credit-allocation
agencies. Under the stimulus bill, $148.3 million
in additional funds will come to TDHCA. These
funds may be used only for 2007, 2008 and
new 2009 tax-credit developments that have a
financial gap.
Developers, investors and the state housing agency are waiting for guidance from the
Treasury Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development on both of these
programs. “This is a radically new way of doing
business; the stimulus funds are going to require
new layers of documentation and oversight.
Patience will be required by all,” said Linda
McMahon, who leads J.P. Morgan Chase’s community development efforts in the Southwest.
Nash explained that he was supportive of
these programs but added that “they do little to
ensure the long-term viability of getting investors back into the market—this is a temporary,
stop-gap measure.”
Markson said, “This buys us time while
markets stabilize.”

LIHTC: A Collaborative Effort
The LIHTC is a program rooted in partnership. Investors and syndicators stress the need
to expand the capital base, while pointing to
the safety and soundness of LIHTC investments,
their historically attractive rates of return and the
potential CRA benefits. Developers cite the need
for more capital and tout the job creation and
economic stimulus provided by such projects.

Government agencies and elected officials try
to fill the gaps, using sustainable underwriting
standards, adding incentives to jump-start production and coping with increased regulatory
pressures. All hope to reinvigorate communities
hurt by the recession and supply citizens with
quality affordable housing.
Notes
For more information, see www.ffiec.gov/cra/default.htm.
See “Low-Income Housing Tax Credits: Affordable Housing
Investment Opportunities for Banks,” Community Developments
Insights, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, February
2008.
3
For more information, see www.tdhca.state.tx.us/multifamily/
htc/docs/08-QAP.pdf.
4
Allocations were $1.25 per capita in 1986–2000, $1.50 in
2001, $1.75 in 2002–03, $1.80 in 2004 and $1.85 in 2005.
They were indexed for inflation annually beginning in 2004.
5
Poverty data are from the 2000 census. The poverty threshold
for a family of four, including two children under 18, was
$17,463.
6
For more information, see section 50.6 in www.tdhca.state.
tx.us/multifamily/htc/docs/08-QAP.pdf.
7
Lower-income areas in Hidalgo and El Paso counties often lack
the infrastructure for large multifamily developments.
8
Tarrant County has less of its population in poverty than Dallas
County; however, Tarrant may have more scattered pockets
of poverty and qualify for extra incentives to develop LIHTC
projects.
9
From interviews with a select group of LIHTC developers.
10
“Recap Update: Rethinking and Re-engineering the LIHTC
Value Chain,” by David A. Smith and Ethan Handelman, Recap
Advisors, April 15, 2009.
11
For more information, see www.financialstability.gov/about/
oversight.html.
12
For more information, see “The Local Economic Impact of
a Typical Tax Credit Housing Project,” National Association of
Home Builders, September 2007, www.nahb.org/fileUpload_
details.aspx?contentTypeID=3&contentID=35601&subContent
ID=119693.
1
2