Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a notice to the Federal Register to announce the Designated Difficult Development Areas and Qualified Census Tracks for purposes of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which become effective July 1st 2016. This is the firs time that the Department has used Small Area Market Rents (SAMRs) as opposed to Metropolitan Area Market Rents for designation of Difficult Development Areas. The use of SMARs will allow a more granular assessment of rent differences within Metropolitan areas.
Representatives Blum and Aguilar sent a letter, signed by 34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging Congress to act quickly to extend the 2014 Tax Extenders Legislation. Enterprise Community Partners Blog details how this extension would affect the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and the New Market Tax Credit, which have been utilized successfully by developers of affordable housing.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio recently unveiled an Inclusionary Housing Program which allows developers to build beyond existing restrictions if they create permanent affordable units, this is one of the most aggressive programs in the country – as many as one in four new apartments will include permanently affordable and low income units (available as rental or ownership programs).
While the U.S. Congress is in recess advocacy groups are encouraging members to get in touch with their representatives who will be considering tax extenders and other affordable housing legislation when they return.

Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-up

House of Representatives Introduced Bill H.R. 855 to Permanently Extend the New Markets Tax Credit which was designed to spur new or increased investments into operating businesses and real estate projects located in low-income communities. The NMTC Program attracts investment capital to low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their Federal income tax return in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial institutions called Community Development Entities (CDEs).
Banking Regulators Seek Public Comment – The Agencies are asking the public to comment on regulations in the Banking Operations, Capital, and the Community Reinvestment Act categories to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements imposed on insured depository institutions and their regulated holding companies.