Volume 17, Issue 3

2006

 

 

As McClure’s article notes, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
program has indeed gone mainstream. Given the tarnished reputation of many
other federal low-income housing programs, this is good news. It is also
surprising in some ways considering the many programmatic flaws inherent in
the LIHTC program.

As a point of departure, I look at why McClure and others are able to
describe the program in a positive light despite its many flaws. I attribute this
to the unique political culture of the United States, for which the LIHTC
program is well suited. In addition, it sidesteps one of the thorniest problems
that have bedeviled low-income housing programs—the spatial isolation of
poor minorities. Until the LIHTC program explicitly addresses this issue,
however, any praise must be tempered by a great deal of caution.