This report examines the spatial characteristics of tax credit housing within the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for the years 2007 through 2009. The report analyzes tax-credit affordable housing sites in an attempt to determine the effects that geographically based program guidelines have on the distribution of LIHTC developments, and low-income communities throughout the area. Moreover, the report suggests recommendations for the clarification of program goals and objectives, the improvement of project application review procedures, and the revision of existing rules and development incentives. / text

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program is the primary federal program for producing new units of affordable housing. The program provides financial incentives to private developers to develop and operate affordable rental housing. In recent years, evidence has emerged that the program has led to clusters of subsidized housing in some cities. It is hardly surprising that some clustering would exist in a program in which the housing is constructed and owned by private developers. Despite the significant number of units produced by the program and despite the potential tendency for clustering of units built under this program, the locational patterns within the LIHTC program remain largely unexamined. Instead, most studies of the LIHTC program have focused on the national level rather than on individual cities. In contrast to previous studies, this study seeks to improve our understanding of variations in the LIHTC program across cities. The hypothesis of this study is that, because private developers produce housing in the LIHTC program and because the factors that influence private developers vary across cities, there is likely to be significant variation in the locational patterns of LIHTC developments across cities. The results of this study show, among other things, that clustering of LIHTC properties exists in the study cities, this clustering is extreme in some cases, and the clusters are associated with high poverty tracts in some cities. Given the LIHTC program's emphasis on market-driven policies and a similar emphasis in some other federal housing programs, such findings will likely be applicable to other affordable housing programs.

Public and private actors have suggested using the community land trust (CLT) model as a remedy for a number of housing related issues. This is based primarily upon the documented successes of CLT homeownership programs. Some caution that the growth of CLTs and the increased use of the CLT model beyond homeownership may stretch organizations beyond their capacity or force them to consider how to provide stewardship and community control. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been used by a handful of CLTs and there are reasons to believe that more CLTs may utilize it in the future. This thesis explores the opportunities and challenges that using LIHTC may present for CLTs through case studies with two different types of organizations--a grassroots CLT in Athens, GA and a nonprofit housing developer with a CLT program in Park City, UT--that have used it as a funding source.

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Since the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been a major source of affordable housing provision for low to middle-income families. Meanwhile, growing concern about potential decrease of property value in neighborhoods has been the main obstacle for most of the affordable housing projects. As a result, LIHTC projects are facing backlash from neighborhoods near the potential affordable housing projects – NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). However, during decades, it has been always controversial whether LIHTC is actually affecting neighborhood property value in negative way. This study tests the hypothesis that the LIHTC projects affect negatively on neighborhood single-family home property value in Austin, Texas. Single-family homes within 2000-feet radius from the selected LIHTC projects were analyzed based on the Travis County Appraisal District annual appraisal values between 1993 and 2008. / text

This thesis explores the shifting dynamics in low-income housing policy between the federal government and local stakeholders in Los Angeles from the early 1930’s to the end of the 1980’s. In particular, it examines the introduction and implementation of two of the federal government’s largest low-income housing programs: the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Many analyses of low-income housing policy in Los Angeles focus mainly on local tensions and power dynamics. This thesis seeks to build on this literature by arguing that shifts at the federal level, such as the introduction of ideologies such as “new federalism,” have played an important role in shaping low-income housing policy in Los Angeles.

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The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, authorized in 1986, has gained recognition over the last decade as America's largest place-based subsidized housing production program. The Qualified Census Tract (QCT) provision of the LIHTC program awards developers for projects built in high-poverty neighborhoods. This research examines whether the QCT provision is deconcentrating poverty or instead perpetuating it by comparing QCTs with LIHTC projects against QCTs with no LIHTC projects. In this study, a socioeconomic index is created to examine changes in socioeconomic variables (poverty, income, unemployment, and education) using 1990 Decennial Census data and 2005-2009 American Community Survey data for the twenty most populated MSAs in the United States to determine how LIHTC projects have changed the landscape of poverty in urban QCTs. Control and target groups were established to analyze the impact of LIHTC projects in QCTs. The control group consists of QCTs with no LIHTC projects and the target group contains QCTs with LIHTC projects. In order to determine how the socioeconomic variables have changed over the last fifteen years, the percent change from 1990 to 2005-2009 was calculated for each tract. Independent Sample T-tests were conducted at the national level, MSA level, and county level (when the sample size was large enough) using SPSS to determine if the difference in the target group's derived socioeconomic index and variables were significantly different from the control group. The findings indicate the target groups overwhelmingly outperformed the control groups for the socioeconomic index and every variable except unemployment. The results of this study may be valuable for policymakers to develop thresholds and guidelines for future LIHTC development in areas concentrated by poverty. / by Rebecca J. Walter. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.