RALEIGH— Federal tax credits and other financing awarded in 2022 will build $996.9 million in affordable apartments in 29 North Carolina counties. The work is expected to support more than 25,600 jobs and generate $75.5 million in state and local tax revenue.
Tax credits and tax-exempt bonds, including tax-exempt bond awards from January and June 2022, were approved for 51 projects by the North Carolina Federal Tax Reform Allocation Committee last week, based on recommendations from the NC Housing Finance Agency.
“Housing tax credits provide vital infrastructure for communities, and these apartment homes will help address the growing shortage of affordable rental housing for working families and seniors in North Carolina,” said Scott Farmer, executive director of the NC Housing Finance Agency.
The funding will produce 4,429 privately owned and managed affordable apartments. These include 2,518 apartments for families and 1,911 for seniors. At least 440 of the apartments will be targeted for people with disabilities. The new awards will bring the number of Housing Credit apartments in the state to more than 120,800.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are administered by the NC Housing Finance Agency. Fifteen properties that received credits were also awarded Agency loans, which are funded using the state Housing Trust Fund, the federal HOME Program and the National Housing Trust Fund to improve economic feasibility for rental developments.
The NC Housing Finance Agency evaluates tax credit applications on behalf of the NC Federal Tax Reform Allocation Committee. The highly competitive program, which received 81 full applications this year, uses a quantitative ranking system and includes independent market studies of each property and site visits by Agency staff. Each property is rated for architectural design, rent affordability, financial stability, capability of the development team and criteria to ensure statewide distribution of the financing.
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, a self-supporting public agency, has financed 318,830 affordable homes and apartments statewide since its creation in 1973.
