HUD designated Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) and Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) for 2022. The effective date of the new QCTs and DDAs is Jan. 1, 2022.  

DDAs are areas with high land, construction and utility costs relative to the area median income and are based on Fair Market Rents, income limits, the 2010 census counts and five-year American Community Survey (ACS) data. QCTs are areas where either 50 percent or more of the households in the tract have an income, which is less than 60 percent of the AMI or the tract’s poverty rate is at least 25 percent.