Volume 17, Issue 3

2006

 

 

McClure provides a useful and interesting analysis of how the Low-Income
Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, the primary federal vehicle supporting
the creation of new affordable housing for very low income families, has
evolved over its first 20 years. He finds that it has grown more financially efficient
and that it places an increasing share of its units in suburban and lowpoverty
census tracts.

I examine the same LIHTC activity, but aggregated to the state rather than
the national level. I identify and discuss differences among states with regard
to how well they use the LIHTC program to support affordable housing in
suburban and low-poverty census tracts. I advocate for more detailed research
into the underlying factors and administrative practices that lead to this variation,
as well as for the creation of a clearinghouse on best practices to help
states learn from one another.