RALEIGH— Federal tax credits and other financing awarded in 2021 will build $1.4 billion of affordable apartments in 29 North Carolina counties. The work is expected to support more than 22,100 jobs and generate $65.2 million in state and local tax revenue.
Tax credits and tax-exempt bonds, including tax-exempt bond awards from February and June 2021, were approved for 68 projects by the North Carolina Federal Tax Reform Allocation Committee last week, based on recommendations from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.
“These high-quality apartments 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. “Now more than ever, housing tax credits are proven economic drivers for communities, particularly in rural areas, and these developments will support thousands of jobs.”
The funding will produce 7,442 privately owned, privately managed affordable apartments. These include 6,015 apartments for families, and 1,427 for seniors. At least 740 of the apartments will be targeted for persons with disabilities. The new awards will bring the number of Housing Credit apartments in the state to more than 116,400.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are administered by the NC Housing Finance Agency. Twenty-two 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. In addition, 10 properties were awarded Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding awarded to the Agency by the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency. The allocation of this funding allowed more Tax Credit developments to be funded in 2021 in counties impacted by Hurricanes Florence and Matthew.
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 129 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 306,130 affordable homes and apartments statewide since its creation in 1973.
