NY awarded $253M through housing tax credit program - Dallas Business Journal:

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is one of the companies that will benefit from an infusion of federal stimulus money into a tax creditr program that subsidizes constructionj ofaffordable housing. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretarh Shaun Donovan announced todaythat $252. million has been awarded to New York througjh thefederal government’s new $2.25 billiobn Tax Credit Assistance Program. The money will enabl e the state to resume funding the construction or renovation of affordablee rentalhousing units. Omni Housing is among the companiess that rely on the sale of low income housingt tax credits to investors to help payconstructiob costs.
The demand for tax credits in the statd and nationwide has eroded becausee of thecredit crisis. Before the crediyt freeze hit, banks and other lenders such as and used the creditx to reduce their federaltax Now, with bank profits much there is less need for the tax “The market is in said Duncan Barrett, chief operating officer at Omni Housing, a divisio of Inc. Construction and renovation projects have been jeopardized as the valuew of the taxcredits plummeted. As many as 1,000 projectsw containing nearly 15,000 housing units are on hold acrosthe country, according to HUD.
For instance, Omni Housingt has received two written offers to purchase tax credites foran $11 million renovation of 100 garden-stylee public housing apartments in Watervliet. The offers are 70 centzs or 72 cents foreverh $1 of tax credit. The low price would created a gapin funding, making the project unworkable. Omni is seekingy $2.4 million through the Tax Crediyt Assistance Program to fillthe gap, Barrett said. “Whatg the TCAP funds are doing is plugging the hole that has been createf by the lack of tax credi investors and the falling prices forthose investors,” Barrett HUD estimates the new program will provide affordable housingt to 35,000 households nationwide.
Omni has redevelopecd 1,170 affordable housing units in the Albany regionj over the past10 years, mostly for municipal housing authorities. Omni managez some of those units and provides property management supportto others.