Allocating agencies that administer the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program have certain flexibilities for implementing program requirements and the agencies have done so in various ways. Although GAO found that allocating agencies generally have processes to meet requirements for allocating credits, reviewing costs, and monitoring projects, some of these practices raised concerns: (1)

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) oversight of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has been minimal. Specifically, since 1986 IRS conducted seven audits of 56 state housing finance agencies (HFA) on which IRS relies to administer and oversee the program. (HFAs are state-chartered authorities established to meet affordable housing needs.) Federal internal control standards call for moni

States with GO Zones are responsible for allocating and overseeing the use of four tax incentives in the GO Zone Act of 2005. Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi received allocation authority for all four provisions. Florida and Texas each received $3.5 million in GO Zone low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) authority, but did not receive allocations under the other incentives. With some process

Housing authorities expect to leverage, for every dollar received in HOPE VI revitalization grants awarded through fiscal year 2001, an additional $1.85 in funds from other sources. HUD considers this amount to be slightly higher because it treats as "leveraged" both (1) HOPE VI grant funds competitively awarded for the demolition of public housing units and (2) other public housing capital funds

In fiscal year 1999, the federal government provided housing assistance to about 5.2 million renter households at a cost of about $28.7 billion in outlays and tax credits. Of this amount, more than $15 billion supported housing units developed under production programs that no longer receive appropriations to produce new or rehabilitated units. This report focuses on six programs that continue to

GAO noted that: (1) under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, the states are authorized to allocate federal tax credits as an incentive for the private sector to develop or substantially rehabilitate rental housing for low-income households; (2) GAO's analyses are based on data collected for its 1997 report from its probability sample of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties; (3) becaus

GAO noted that: (1) in about 36 percent of the properties, at least one tenant received tenant-based rental assistance; (2) about 36 percent of all tenants who benefited from rental assistance received tenant-based assistance; (3) in about 1,502 properties classified as benefiting from tenant-based rental assistance, about 70,308 households lived in tax credit units; (4) only about 16,532 of thes

GAO noted that: (1) while tax credit units built by nonprofit developers cost more, on average, than units built by for-profit developers, nonprofit developers' costs were not necessarily higher when differences in the units' characteristics were taken into account; (2) GAO identified four characteristics that both increased average costs and were more likely to be associated with units built by

GAO noted that: (1) a substantial majority of households served by the program had incomes considered "very low" by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and about three-fourths of all households benefited either directly or indirectly from other types of housing assistance; (2) GAO estimates the average tax credit cost per-unit, in present value terms, to be about $27,300; (3) all the

GAO noted that: (1) given the results of its random sample, GAO estimates that about 4,100 low-income housing projects were placed in service during the period 1992 through 1994; (2) for these projects, GAO estimates that the states annually awarded tax credits with a potential value over their 10-year lifetime of about $2 billion, about $1.6 billion in present value terms, or about $6.1 billion