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

onesawava.wordpress.com
is one of the companies that will benefit from an infusionn of federal stimulus money into a tax creditg program that subsidizes construction ofaffordable housing. U.S. Housing and Urba n Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced todaythat $252. 7 million has been awarded to New York through thefederap government’s new $2.25 billion Tax Credit Assistancw Program. The money will enable the state to resum funding the construction or renovation of affordablwe rentalhousing units. Omni Housing is among the companiesz that rely on the sale of low incomr housing tax credits to investors to help payconstructiob costs.
The demand for tax credits in the stater and nationwide has eroded becausse of thecredit crisis. Beforw the credit freeze hit, banks and otheer lenders such as and used the creditas to reduce their federaltax liability. Now, with bank profitws much slimmer, there is less need for the tax credits. “The markeft is in disarray,” said Duncan chief operating officer at Omni a divisionof Inc. Construction and renovation projects have been jeopardized as the value of the taxcreditsd plummeted. As many as 1,000 projects containing nearly 15,000 housing units are on hold across the country, according to HUD.
For instance, Omni Housingb has received two written offers to purchase tax credits foran $11 milliojn renovation of 100 garden-style publid housing apartments in Watervliet. The offer are 70 cents or 72 centd forevery $1 of tax The low price would create a gap in making the project unworkable. Omni is seeking $2.4 millio through the Tax Credit Assistance Prograk to fillthe gap, Barrett “What the TCAP funds are doing is plugging the hole that has been createdd by the lack of tax creditf investors and the falling prices for those investors,” Barretty said. HUD estimates the new program will providde affordable housingto 35,000 households nationwide.
Omni has redeveloped 1,170 affordable housing units in the Albany region over the past10 years, mostly for municipalk housing authorities. Omni manages some of those units and providea property management supportto others.