HUD Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)

HUD has placed restrictions on this data. There are known data quality issues with this data that impact data linkage. HUD requires approval for any projects that want to use the LIHTC data as well as approval of any output analysis involving this data. The project descriptions for the projects requesting access to this data must include how they will account for linkage issues. The output must be approved by HUD and Census prior to release of any analysis. For more information, contact your local RDC admin.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) subsidizes the acquisition, construction, and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income tenants. The LIHTC was enacted as part of the 1986 Tax Reform Act and has been modified numerous times. Since the mid-1990s, the LIHTC program has supported the construction or rehabilitation of about 110,000 affordable rental units each year (though there was a steep drop-off after the Great Recession of 2008-09)--over 2 million units in all since its inception. The federal government issues tax credits to state and territorial governments. State housing agencies then award the credits to private developers of affordable rental housing projects through a competitive process. Developers generally sell the credits to private investors to obtain funding. Once the housing project is placed in service (essentially, made available to tenants), investors can claim the LIHTC over a 10-year period.