Joel Swerdlow Author Archives

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

In accordance with congressional mandates, every state issues a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) explaining the criteria it will use in awarding Federal 9% Low Income Tax Credits (LIHTC). The topic is particularly hot because the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., which involves Texas’ allocation of LIHTCs, and focuses on whether the Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlaws only intentional discrimination.

“The best way to change the world,” iconic folksinger and social activist Pete Seeger once said, “is to find a positive story and tell it.”

“New Markets Tax Credits are coming of age,” says one experienced dealmaker. “Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say people are growing more sophisticated in their use of NMTCs.”

“I’ve been in the affordable housing business for more than 30 years and always thought this was a close-knit community, but what happened in less than 24 hours was amazing,” says David Cooper, of the WODA Group, a nationally recognized company that specializes in affordable housing and has offices in five states.
Cooper, a principal of the company who shares day-to-day operating responsibility with Jeffrey Woda, was wrong. It took only
a few hours.

Hometown boys, vision, persistence, patience, creativity, and business acumen—and tax credits—are transforming the Pizitz, a department store built in 1923 and empty since 1988, into a new landmark for downtown Birmingham, Alabama’s rejuvenated Second Avenue North corridor.

In one of the poorest neighborhoods in Washington, DC, Lydia’s House, a project of the nearby Living Word Church, offers 49 one-to-three bedroom apartments; all affordable— church-provided services available to tenants include educational and health programs. And in the Coolidge Corner neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside Boston and in one of the nation’s most trendy, affluent areas, the 1.8 acre site formerly home to St. Aidan’s Parish has become 59-units of mixed income housing, including nine condominiums in the renovated church, with stained glass windows and other unique features.

Solar power is becoming more of an economic and technological possibility for developers of multiunit affordable housing—the cost of solar panels, for example, has been dropping exponentially since 2008.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have recently created new affordable housing products that provide borrowers with ways to access low-cost loans that finance affordable housing for the 15-plus years of the building’s compliance life.

The principal reason for this greening, Daskalakis says, is competition: The vast preponderance of projects seeking NMTC funding do not receive it, and projects are “greened” to make them more attractive. The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund documents the odds: For 2014 allocations, $19.9 billion in total applications were made for an available $5 billion; $25.8 billion in applications were made for an available $3.5 billion in 2013; and $21.9 billion seeking $3.6 billion in 2012.

An estimated 70 percent of multi-family, affordable housing (MFAH) in western Pennsylvania is more than 30 years old—and most of these units are wasting as much as half the energy they use.

A young mother working full-time takes classes leading to a degree in emergency response management. With this degree will come a new career and improved life for her family. Before leaving the building, she buys fresh produce and groceries, and at the bus stop on the public plaza near the main entrance, chats with neighbors.