20 Years of The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program in New York State
New York State has a long tradition of providing affordable housing. Ours was the first Limited Dividend Program and the first state-subsidized public housing in the nation. The Mitchell-Lama program is without rival.
The Empire State has always been in the vanguard creating affordable housing. The Sixties and Seventies ushered in a new era of government housing programs. But with a shift in federal policy in the 1980's, low-income housing production reached a new low and virtually came to a halt.
An unlikely source - the Tax Reform Act of 1986 - would provide the affordable housing movement with the greatest impetus since the New Deal. By making tax credits available to investors in low-income housing, the source of capital for development would shift from government to the private sector.
Today, the Low-Income Housing Credit Program is responsible for 90% of affordable housing built nationwide in the last decade.
In New York State, over the past 20 years, it has engendered close to 45,000 dreams...and counting.
Congressman Charles Rangel:
Well, Senator Packwood and I had worked - there was a big gap in terms of providing the incentives to the Low-Income Housing - with the help of staff we were able to come up with a program that did not have to be administered by anybody. The money that would be invested would go directly into the development, and as result of that, we were able to get people like LISC, and Enterprise Foundation and some of the larger corporations - I remembered so well - to really invest. It became one of the best programs that ever came out of Congress, with incentives and the monies going into actual low-income buildings.
Bruce Baird:
Everybody was nervous - people like myself, who had been developing under an accelerated depreciation, creating affordable housing under a program - all of the sudden there was new beast in town.
Brian Lawlor:
I was recruited to work at DHCR and to come up to Albany and help implement a new Low-Income Housing Credit Program. It was completely different than any other housing program that had been administered in the federal government or in New York State.
Richard Higgins:
In the beginning there was a lot of confusion. People did not know exactly what this was all about, but some of the big players in the game picked up on this very quickly. By 1988-1989, when I was Commissioner, we were regularly allocating almost all, if not all of our tax credits.
Narrator:
You were one of the first private individuals in the State of New York to opt into this Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, here in Corinth. How did it work out for you, and what are your feelings?
Dr. Michael Nolan:
It worked out quite well. I used the program for 15 years and I garnered the benefits of the program, taking a tax credit each year, and I'm glad I did it. With the program, I was able to rehab the building more thoroughly and get my money back more quickly.
Bill Frey:
Part of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits; the conditions of the city was very challenged in there was a lot of vacant buildings and not as much federal financing that was available for the rehabilitation or development of affordable housing. It was a very difficult program to sell. Corporations were looking at the challenges of investing in affordable housing; they didn't want to be landlords. What happened was corporations and many financial institutions eventually, saw this as a way to invest very differently and to do well. In a sense, it was a good return for them and at the same time they were doing good.
Roseanne Haggerty:
Common Ground's mission is to end homelessness. Here in the Prince George, 50% of our 416 tenants are individuals, who were homeless before moving here. Supportive housing, which is made possible here, in large part through the Tax Credit Program, is an incredibly effective and financially prudent solution to homelessness. For less than half the cost of what it is to operate a cot in a city shelter, we can provide permanent housing and support to people coming from homelessness, to help them get back on their feet.
Sojourner Story:
When I have a roof over my head, a rock solid foundation; I have something to work with. Before, it was like dancing in a minefield, blindfolded. Homelessness, that is what it is like, you don't know what you are going to run into. When you have a place to go, you close your door and you leave all that misery outside.
Charles Rangel:
Well, it has meant a lot to communities like mine, all over the country. One, you hire community people, which means that the program has really created jobs. Two, you provide shelter.
Narrator:
Why do you like living in MLK apartments?
Nerieda Figuero:
It is beautiful, it is a beautiful environment. Also, since my son has been here, he hasn't gotten an episode - he is very asthmatic. Just the overall environment of the building, it is safe clean. The air is healthier in the apartment, and I just love it.
Vito Lopez:
Without additional housing tax credits, without the program, rentals will be too high and what we will then do is not have a viable option for the working poor and low-income individuals.
Jo Ann Page:
We really have two big sources of money in this project. One was HHAP, which was our first money in but DHCR was who brought this project home. We needed the Tax Credit to finalize the funding. We are getting national attention and we changed the lives of 500 or so people, as we near our fifth year anniversary.
Richard Higgins:
The tax credits is the basis of everything we do. I mean, you try to get other monies, simply to leverage Tax Credits, but the tax credits is the bread and butter of affordable housing. You can't do affordable housing on any scale without the tax credit. It is the game.
Bill Frey:
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program has provided the opportunity and provided the opportunities for the investors to get what they need, as far as returns, to keep the projects in communities. It has given residents a chance to have a better place to live. It has provided communities of hope, that have really changed the environment throughout the city and throughout the state.
Narrator:
What has this meant to you Monique?
Monique Bogle:
This has meant a lot of things to me, basically a change of life, completely. A new beginning. I really appreciate living here because my circumstances were dire before I moved here. I lived in a shelter for over a year and about two months, my son and I. The shelter was not the most terrible place to live - we could been on the streets. It is very hard living day to day, when you don't know when, or where you going to have permanent residence.
Narrator:
What are you going to say to the people who put this all together?
Monique:
I would say a big thank you... a big thank you, if they were here. I would give them a hug and tell them just how much it means for my son and I to live here, honestly.
Nathaniel:
Even more for me!
Charles Rangel:
I don't think we can gloat on what we have done. Barney Frank and I, working with cities and local governments, are going to see what we can do. Even as we talk, our staffs are working together to come up with Low-Income Housing Plan Two.
Deborah VanAmerongen:
My congratulations to everyone who has been such an integral part of the success of the low-income housing Tax Credit Program. When you look at a building like Macombs Manor, you can see the vision Congressman Rangel had 20 years ago, and the impact of Low-Income Housing tax credit program has had in communities like Harlem, and in areas all around the country. I would ask all of you to join with us to make this program even better in the next 20 years.
Congressman Rangel:
No matter what it is - getting out of poverty, getting a job - you can do a heck a lot better when you have a place to stay. But I think the thing that strikes me the most is seeing the pride of someone going into their new home, with their families.
Last updated on 05/17/07