Fair Housing and the LIHTC Program

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Fair Housing and the LIHTC Program

• Can we use LIHTC to connect more people to
  opportunity?

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LIHTC fair housing issues

• Advocacy and research
• Ongoing LIHTC reform
• LIHTC sites in Washington
• LIHTC and segregated schools
• LIHTC and NCLB at odds?

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LIHTC Advocacy and Research

• The LIHTC program is a 5 billion tax credit
  program for private developers to create
  affordable housing opportunities
• The LIHTC program is the primary source of new
  subsidized housing construction in the US
• LIHTC projects produced over 800,000 units in the
  1990s, compared to just 50,000 units of
  traditional site-based subsidized housing
• Kirwan Institute and PRRAC are working with state
  advocates and housing finance agencies to set
  guidelines to reduce segregation in LIHTC siting
  and connect more LIHTC units to high opportunity
  areas

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Ongoing LIHTC Reform

• Some states have started revising their site
  selection criteria
• Wisconsin prioritize zip codes with recent job
  growth
• Minnesota include population growth and job
  growth
• Illinois live near work criteria to
  prioritize suburban areas with job growth and
  labor shortages
• California bonus points for high-income, high
  job growth locations with inclusionary zoning
• Many states integrate other opportunity
  indicators into their site selection evaluation,
  such as proximity to childcare, access to public
  transit, and access to nearby services, such as
  grocery stores and medical facilities

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LIHTC sites in Washington

• Although Washington LIHTC units and all rentals
  are balanced statewide (although perhaps
  under-sited in rural areas)
• LIHTC units are almost 2x likely than all rentals
  to be in concentrated poverty racially
  segregated areas

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LIHTC and Segregated Schools

• Currently, LIHTC development is conflicting with
  efforts to desegregate schools
• Nearly ¾s of African American and Hispanic LIHTC
  residents are located in segregated schools.

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Cycle of School Segregation
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LIHTC and NCLB at odds?

• While residential segregation and school
  segregation are connected, policies directed to
  each are working independently, and perhaps in
  conflict
• Need to connect school policy and housing policy
• Two federal programs conflicting NCLB seeking to
  improve educational outcomes, while LIHTC
  concentrates children in high poverty schools
  (decreasing educational outcomes)
• Could we incorporate school quality criteria in
  QAP?