Even those who praise the tax credit program and what it has accomplished are concerned that there are so few sizeable alternatives to it.
A graphic showing buildings, some shaded in red, to illustrate Shelterforce's new Under the Lens series, LIHTC: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Complicated

LIHTC: How It Started, How It’s Going

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was created in a moment when other real estate tax preferences were going away—but at the time, no one expected it to grow into the main source of affordable housing finance in the country.

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Graffiti of green housing overlapping each other.

The Only Tool in the Box: What It Means That LIHTC Dominates Affordable Housing

Even those who praise the tax credit program and what it has accomplished are concerned that there are so few sizeable alternatives to it.
multifamily buildings

The FSS Program Was Expanded Beyond Public Housing Authorities—Here’s How It’s Going

In 2018, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program was expanded to privately owned properties receiving project-based rental assistance. Here's a look at how early adopters have used the program to support residents, and the lessons they learned along the way.
A composite of four people who are speaking. At top left, a person with a beard and red top, at top right, a person with a red shirt sits in front of a black background; bottom left, a man with a blue shirt sits on a recliner, and at bottom right, a woman with glasses.

What Makes Our Homes Accessible?

Four disability activists tell us what they needed to make their homes accessible, and how difficult it can be to find accessible housing.
The Portside Towers apartments is on the waterfront in Jersey City.

Even When Rent Control Is in Effect, Tenants Need to Stay Vigilant, Jersey City...

Facing 25 to 50 percent rent increases, tenants at two apartment towers fought to get the city to enforce its longstanding rent control ordinance. A year later, they earned a win that could result in millions being paid back to them in rent overpayments.
Close-up of document titled "Rent Increase Notice." Text is partly hidden by a blue and silver ballpoint pen. Visible text says "...inform you that beginning on ____ .... increase by $_____. No other ..... to original rental agreement.... monthly payment is due on the first...."

How Tenant Activists Won Protections Against Mid-Lease Rent Hikes in Affordable Housing

Last year, we reported on tenants in Northern Virginia LIHTC properties whose rents were raised in the middle of their leases. Here's how other states have banned the practice.
A skyscraper at night with windows lit up to form a large dollar sign.

LIHTC Right of First Refusal Is Still Under Attack

Three years after our initial story, aggressive investors are still suing LIHTC general partners to profit off of what should be affordable housing. But one legal decision, along with proposed legislation, could help protect the right of first refusal.

LIHTC for Regular People

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is famously complex. We can't exactly make it simple, but we've broken down the basics, especially those that residents of a LIHTC property might want to know, as clearly as possible.
An aerial view of a large, four-story, U-shaped housing development, still being built, and surrounded by settled neighborhoods on the three sides that are visible. The roof is white and the various sections of the exterior walls are blue, tan, brick, or white. The ground around the structure is still raw dirt, with several trucks and machines in view.

Can Residents Get More Out of Tax Credit Housing?

Arrangements in which LIHTC tenants share in the development’s financial benefits, or become partial or full owners, are rare—but some properties have pulled them off. This scan of several examples shows the possibilities—and the conditions needed for them to succeed.

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