The Michigan State Housing Development Authority is awarding more than $12.6 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to build or rehabilitate 15 developments in big cities and small towns across Michigan, Acting Executive Director Gary Heidel announced today.
“This round of tax credits will create hundreds of new apartments and rehabilitate hundreds more in areas of high need throughout our state,” Heidel said. “We know there’s a big demand for affordable housing in urban areas, but rural areas often face similar housing challenges and I’m especially excited to see the geographic diversity in the credits we’ve awarded in this round.”
Eight of the 15 LIHTC-backed projects will be new construction. The other seven developments will benefit from critical safety improvements, energy efficiencies and modernized amenities. In all, nine of the developments are in Opportunity Zones, areas established by Congress in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Opportunity Zones are eligible for additional tax benefits aimed at spurring private investment, economic growth and jobs in distressed communities.
“Adding to the housing stock in Opportunity Zones will expand and improve the affordable options for a growing workforce,” Heidel said.
LIHTC is a critical resource for developers when planning to build or rehabilitate quality affordable rental housing. It is estimated that this round of tax credit awards will leverage almost $98 million in private investment for Michigan over the 10-year lifespan of the credits.
“These tax credits are a limited resource, and there is always a greater demand than what we have available to allocate,” said Chad Benson, LIHTC allocations manager at MSHDA. “In this funding round alone, the demand outweighed available credits three to one. If enacted, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would have enabled us to fund about 7 more developments.”
The widely supported Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would expand and strengthen LIHTC to produce more units of affordable housing and better serve at-risk and underserved communities. In an announcement earlier this week, this and other provisions were stripped from the bill’s final version in the last hours of negotiation.
In the Upper Peninsula, the project approved was:
Waterview Apartments – Phase I, Gladstone
Developer: Gladstone Housing Commission
LIHTC Award: $535,227
