Governor Tom Wolf yesterday announced conditional awards totaling $43.4 million in low-income housing tax credits and approximately $3.8 million in PennHOMES funding for the construction of 39 affordable multifamily housing developments in Pennsylvania. The tax credits are administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and were approved by its board.

"These tax credits are crucial because they fill a current void in the housing marketplace," said Governor Wolf. "Low-income housing tax credits make possible the construction of affordable rental housing that otherwise wouldn't get built. Given the ongoing demand for affordable housing, the apartments we make possible with this funding will make people's lives better and will meet a critical need in communities statewide."

When completed, the developments receiving conditional funding yesterday will preserve and create an additional 1,941 rental housing units for Pennsylvania residents.

Registration is now open for McKonly & Asbury’s next Affordable Housing Seminar to be held on Friday, May 18, 2018.

You won’t want to miss this seminar! We’ve brought in experts to discuss current hot topics in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit industry.

Topics and speakers to include:

Cost Segregation Studies and 45L Credits - Luis Mego from KBKG. 

Legislative Update - Judy Crosby from Kutak Rock will give us a legislative updates relating to the low-income housing tax credit program. Judy has been a popular speaker at our seminars in the past and we are excited to welcome her back!

News From PHFA - Holly Glauser, Director of Development at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, will speak on recent low-income housing tax credit news from PHFA’s perspective. Holly is always a welcomed speaker and we look forward to her update from PHFA!

"Twinning" - Judy Crosby will discuss combining 9% development with a Tax Exempt Bond/3% development. 

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) has issued a draft of their 2019 Allocation Plan for low-income housing tax credits. 

According to the draft Allocation Plan, applicants will be required to submit an Intent to Submit Fact Sheet and Development Synopsis to PHFA on or before July 13, 2018. The final applications will be due to PHFA by 3 pm on September 28, 2018.

There are a few proposed changes in the scoring criteria. 

The president signed a $1.5 trillion tax cut bill into law on December 22, 2017. The law retained the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and preserved the tax exemption for private activity bonds. However, there are a number of changes that will have an indirect impact on how affordable housing properties are financed and operated. Let’s start with five.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) has updated their Placed-In-Service Package requirements. There are numerous changes and clarifications to the package; which PHFA believes will help developers submit complete Placed-In-Service Packages, and therefore reduce the time it takes to receive their IRS Form 8609.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) has issued a draft of their 2017/2018 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). 

On Friday, July 15, 2016, Governor Tom Wolf announced awards of $40.3 million in tax credits and $5.9 million in PennHOMES funding for the construction of 39 affordable multifamily housing developments located throughout Pennsylvania. The tax credits are administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and were approved by its board. The tax credits awarded to developers will be used to attract more than $407 million of investment funding for building, and rehabilitating, multifamily housing offering affordable rents.“This tax credit program touches many lives by making affordable housing available through a powerful partnership between the

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (“PHFA”) announced last week that it received 140 “Intent to Submit a Tax Credit Application – Fact Sheet” submissions by the January 8, 2016 deadline. The 2016 funding round looks to be one of the most competitive to date with those 140 applications competing for just over $29.4 million in tax credits to be allocated in Pennsylvania. PHFA also announced that due to the high demand for low-income housing tax credits, developments receiving awards of 2016 tax credits will be required to meet a closing and commencement of construction date of March 31, 2017.

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed into law the “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015”. This act extends numerous tax provisions that had previously expired. Both houses of Congress passed the bill earlier that same week.

The PATH Act makes the minimum 9% tax credit rate for new LIHTC developments and rehabilitation expenditures permanent. This provision is retroactive to January 1, 2015.