NY awarded $253M through housing tax credit program - The Business Review (Albany):

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is one of the companies that will benefit from an infusion of federap stimulus money into a tax credit program that subsidizes constructiob ofaffordable housing. U.S. Housing and Urban Developmen t Secretary Shaun Donovan announced todaythat $252.u million has been awarded to New York througjh the federal government’s new $2.25 billiom Tax Credit Assistance Program. The money will enablse the state to resume funding the constructionh or renovation of affordable rentalhousing units.
Omni Housingb is among the companies that rely on the sale of low incom housing tax credits to investors to help pay construction The demand for tax credits in the state and nationwides has eroded because of thecredi crisis. Before the credit freeze hit, banksz and other lenders such as and used the creditsw to reduce their federaltax liability. Now, with bank profita much slimmer, there is less need for the tax “The market is in said Duncan Barrett, chief operating officer at Omni Housing, a divisionn of Inc. Construction and renovation projectz have been jeopardized as the value of the taxcreditas plummeted.
As many as 1,000 projects containing nearlu 15,000 housing units are on hold acrossthe country, accordingt to HUD. For instance, Omni Housinf has received two written offers to purchase tax creditsx foran $11 million renovation of 100 garden-style publicd housing apartments in Watervliet. The offere are 70 cents or 72 cents foreveryg $1 of tax credit. The low prics would create a gap in making theproject unworkable. Omni is seekingb $2.4 million through the Tax Credit Assistance Program to fillthe gap, Barrettf said.
“What the TCAP funds are doing is pluggingv the hole that has been created by the lack of tax creditf investors and the falling prices forthosee investors,” Barrett said. HUD estimatess the new program will provide affordablee housingto 35,000 households nationwide. Omni has redeveloperd 1,170 affordable housing units in the Albany region over the past 10 mostly for municipalhousing authorities. Omni manages some of thoser units and provides property management supporftto others.