Montana Board of Housing recently posted a proposed draft version of the 2018 QAP which the board discussed on Monday, February 13th. Proposed changes in the draft include:

  • “Small Rural Project”: Such projects may now request up to 12.5% of the state’s Available Annual Credit Allocation (previously 10%). These projects are no longer required to have 20 low-income units or less.
  • “Soft Costs” do not include Letter of Intent fee, Application Fee, Reservation Fee, 10% Cost Certification Fee, and Final Allocation fee.
  • Total Project Costs are not to exceed $235,000 per unit (previously $230,000).
  • Debt Coverage Ratio: If DCR changes significantly from the time of application to the time of 10% or Final Cost Certification, MBOH reserves the right to assess negative points from the next application including any member of the Development Team.
  • Board Selection: No more than 8 projects will be selected for award (previously 10). If credits remain, the board may invite one or more projects to submit applications to reach the credit ceiling. Removed the option to allocating to projects until reaching 150% of the state’s credit ceiling.
  • Establishes an application protocol for projects utilizing multiple credit sources (i.e. a project utilizing both 9% and 4% credits).
  • Fee Increases: Letter of Intent Fee increased from $1,500 to $3,000; Reservation Fee increased from 8% to 10% of the credits reserved; 10% Test Fee increased from $1,000 to $1,500; Final Allocation/8609 Underwriting Fee increased from $2,500 to $3,000.
  • Removes the “Appropriate Development Type” category from Scoring (addressing this category in the market study was worth 40 points in the previous QAP).

The comment period will remain open until March 1, 2017 at 5pm MST. Interested parties are encouraged to submit comments electronically.

Public Hearing and Webinar:
February 28 at 10:00am.
301 S. Park Avenue, Room 308
Helena, MT

Or join via Webinar by registering here
To hear the discussion and to speak: Dial 1-877-273-4202 and then,  when prompted,  7233056#