Caitlin Jones Author Archives

ICAST’s IRA & BIL Instant Benefit Estimate Calculator is now available on NH&RA’s website under the Resources section.

THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has opened its sixth, last schedule funding round for the federal new markets tax credit (NMTC) program, with some significant changes from previous rounds.

THE IRS’ OFFICE of Exempt Organizations (OEO) has issued “implementing guidelines” outlining its plans for action in various issue areas in the fiscal year (FY 2008) ending 9/30/08. One area is conservation easements, which include easements on historic properties that generate federal tax deductions for the holders of such easements.

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS) has issued final comprehensive guidance to implement recommendations for improvements to the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit program made by the National Park Service Advisory Board (NPSAB). The implementation documents, which have prompted mixed reactions, are designed to promote consistency in the program and make it more flexible and user-friendly.

THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF DEBT available for new low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects, despite the turmoil in the capital markets, according to lenders and other LIHTC program participants recently interviewed by the Tax Credit Advisor.

CENTERLINE HOLDING Company, parent company of Centerline Capital Group, has completed the securitization of a $2.8 billion portfolio of taxexempt affordable housing bonds with Freddie Mac.

FEDERAL LAWMAKERS, just returned to Washington for the start of the 2nd session of the 110th Congress, have a number of unfinished pieces of housing- and economic-related legislative proposals on their plate awaiting consideration or final approval.

TWO ORGANIZATIONS have developed proposed legislative solutions to the problem of anticipated widespread, prolonged “frozen rents” for low-income housing tax credit projects in many parts of the U.S.

IRS SENIOR Program Analyst Grace Robertson said she is updating parts of the so-called 8823 guide for the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program, and expressed hope they will be released by late June. She spoke 1/14/08 at the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ HFA Institute conference in Washington, DC.

THE IRS IS CONSIDERING the addition of another optional method for computing utility allowances for low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects, in its forthcoming final rule for utility allowances.

THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU on 12/27/07 issued revised population estimates, as of 7/1/07, for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. These new estimates, once officially transmitted by the IRS in a notice, will be used to compute the official 2008 volume caps for each state for low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt private activity bonds.

THE IRS HAS ISSUED A NEW revenue ruling (2008-6) that says project- or tenant-based rental assistance payments made to an owner that are funded under the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program won’t be treated as federal grants under the low-income housing tax credit program.

PRESIDENT BUSH IN DECEMBER signed into law (P.L. 110-142) a bill (H.R. 3648) containing a provision modifying the student status rules under the low-income housing tax credit program.