Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) brings substantial
equity investment into Vermont's housing market. In calendar year
2006, Vermont received federal Tax Credit authority to allocate
$2.3 million ("Allocated Credits"). Since the inception
of the program in 1987, VHFA has awarded approximately $26.2 million
in federal allocated tax credits to developers of over 4,153 units
of affordable rental housing that have been built or acquired and
rehabilitated through private sector equity investments. The equity
this generated for affordable housing developments is estimated
at $233million dollars.
VHFA also administers Federal Bond Credits which are similar to
the Allocated Credits noted above, but which provide a lower level
of credits and therefore lower equity investment to the project.
The Bond Credits are automatically provided to eligible projects
in conjunction with Private Activity Tax Exempt Bond Financing.
VHFA has awarded $ 5million in Bond credits, generating approximately
$44 million in equity.
Additionally, the State of Vermont made available $300,000 in State
Housing Tax Credits for FY2007. The allocation of both federal and
state credits is highly competitive and continues to be oversubscribed
in each allocation round. The combined effect of the State and Federal
tax credit programs was private equity investment of nearly $ 41
million dollars in the past fiscal year alone that has been used
to acquire, rehabilitate and/construct affordable housing units.
VHFA’s responsibilities for administering the Tax Credit
program include:
- Ongoing review of tax credit rules and regulations for incorporation
and maintenance of the State
Qualified Allocation Plan
(98 KB; PDF)
- Coordination, Receipt, Review and Underwriting of Tax Credit
Applications for presentation to the Tax Credit Allocation Committee
and the VHFA Board of Commissioners
- Administration of the initial reservation, and ongoing compliance
monitoring of projects with IRS requirements
As with debt financed projects, those financed with Tax Credit
Equity require an extensive level of underwriting analysis. |