Press Contact Only:
Margaret Matrone, NCHFA, 919-877-5606,
Connie Helmlinger, NCHFA, 919-877-5607,
More than $52 million in federal stimulus funds awarded last week is expected to put 1,400 people to work building affordable apartments across North Carolina. Ten properties in 10 counties were approved by the N.C. Tax Reform Allocation Committee for funding under the federal Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP). The developments were recommended by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency.
Nearly 2,000 additional construction jobs are expected to result from 14 other properties that the committee approved for federal tax credits, which the TCAP properties will also receive. Together, the TCAP funding and federal tax credits will result in $192 million in affordable rental apartments in 21 counties.
Federal stimulus funds are expected to support an additional 3,500 construction jobs associated with 36 apartment developments that will be announced soon. These had been approved for tax credits in 2007 and 2008 but were stalled when the nationwide financial crisis drastically reduced private investments in tax credit developments.
“This is exactly what the recovery funds are designed to do – get America back on track by putting people to work,” said Gov. Bev Perdue. “By effectively and efficiently investing recovery dollars, we’re able to create jobs and provide North Carolinians with affordable housing.”
For more than 20 years, federal tax credits have encouraged private investments to build rental housing for lower income families. As the contraction of the credit market has made traditional investors cautious, housing credit projects across the country have been put on hold.
TCAP was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help state housing finance agencies resume funding of affordable rental projects and to stimulate employment in the hard-hit construction industry. The TCAP funding will help developments get off the ground quickly despite the current difficulties in the tax credit equity market.
North Carolina’s TCAP properties will include 666 privately owned, privately managed apartments. The 14 additional tax credit developments will provide 999 units. Nearly 78 percent of all the recently approved apartments (1,297 units) will be designated for families, and 368 units will house elderly residents. [Editor: A list of housing developments by funding and by county is enclosed.]
The 24 new developments will include 298 apartments for persons with disabilities, affordable to persons living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of approximately $660 a month. Rent assistance is available for these apartments under an initiative financed by the General Assembly and offered through a cooperative arrangement between the Housing Finance Agency, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, local service organizations, and the apartment owners and managers.
All of the apartments will be affordable to North Carolinians whose incomes are at 60 percent or less of the median. This ranges from $46,140 for a family of four in Raleigh to $29,940 in lower income areas such as Robeson or Vance counties.
The N.C. Housing Finance Agency evaluates the tax credit applications on behalf of the Tax Reform Allocation Committee, which consists of Secretary of Commerce J. Keith Crisco, State Treasurer Janet Cowell and State Budget Officer Charles Perusse.
To recommend the 24 properties, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency evaluated 55 applications for federal tax credits and 38 applications for TCAP assistance. The evaluation consists of independent market studies, site visits by agency staff, and ratings for architectural design, rent affordability, financial stability, capability of the development team, and statewide distribution.
To make the properties economically viable at below-market rent levels, the owners are allowed to take a credit on their federal income tax of 9 percent of the eligible costs, for a period of 10 years.
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The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency is a self-supporting public agency. It has financed 190,000 affordable homes and apartments in the last three decades, including nearly 80,000 homes for first-time home buyers. To learn more, go to www.nchfa.com or call 919-877-5700 or 800-393-0988.
