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A recent ruling by Massachusetts’ highest state court relied on an analysis of the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. (ICP). In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state’s “Qualified Allocation Plan” (QAP) implemented by an allocating agency violates the Fair Housing Act if it “disparately impacts” a protected minority even though the allocating agency did not intend to discriminate.
On May 19, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced legislation entitled The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2016. The proposed bill would expand the LIHTC program to help create or preserve approximately 1.3 million affordable homes over a 10-year period. This would be an increase of 400,000 more units than is possible under the current program. The expansion would be phased in by 10 percent per year for the next five years.
On May 18, 2016, President Obama and Labor Secretary Perez announced that the Department of Labor’s final rule will automatically extend overtime pay eligibility to 4.2 million workers. The rule will entitle most salaried white collar workers earning less than $913 a week ($47,476 a year) to overtime pay.
On March 25, HUD released the second annual report on residents of units financed by the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC). Congress mandated the collection and publication of this data when it passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. The report provides information about the race, ethnicity, family composition, age, income, use of rental assistance, disability status, and monthly rent burden of tenants living in LIHTC sites as of the end of 2013.
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) recently joined Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) at a rally calling for an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to address our nation’s shortage of affordable housing. The event followed Senator Cantwell’s announcement last month of her intention to introduce legislation to expand the LIHTC by 50 percent. Senator Cantwell’s proposal would increase Housing Credit allocation authority by 50 percent, financing the development or preservation of approximately 400,000 additional affordable apartments nationwide over the next 10 years.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) recently released its 2016 report focusing on the gap between the number of extremely low-income (ELI) households and the number of affordable housing units available to them. ELI households are those with incomes at 30 percent of area median income or less. According to the report, there are just 31 units affordable and available to every 100 ELI households nationwide. This amounts to a shortfall of 7.2 million units.
The IRS recently invited public comment on recommendations for items that should be included in the 2016-2017 Priority Guidance Plan. The IRS sets priority guidance plans each year and updates them on a quarterly basis. The IRS uses the priority guidance plan each year to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance.
The Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals recently ruled that an appraiser valuing a LIHTC site must consider the rental restrictions placed on the site. The board considered the assessed value of a 20-unit site subject to the federal LIHTC income and rent restrictions. The county’s valuation administrator assessed the site at $1.34 million for the 2014 tax year. The Board of Assessment Appeals lowered this assessment to $1,040,000, and the valuation administrator assessed the complex at $1,040,000 for the 2015 tax year.
HUD recently announced a settlement agreement with Maryland’s Baltimore County over federal discrimination complaints filed in 2011. The complaints revolve around an issue that’s been playing out across the nation. The issue involves whether state and local governments may be violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 because low-income housing is routinely located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty, minorities, and subsidized homes.
The Justice Department recently announced that the owners and developers of 71 multifamily housing sites in four states have agreed to pay $350,000 to settle claims that they violated federal fair housing law by building apartment complexes that were inaccessible to persons with disabilities. All but two of the sites were built with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits or other federal programs, and include more than 2,500 ground-floor units.
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