DES MOINES, IOWA (July 6, 2023) — The Iowa Finance Authority Board of Directors recently awarded a total of more than $15 million in federal housing tax credits and HOME program loans to support the construction and rehabilitation of a total of 410 affordable rental homes for Iowans. The awards were made to eleven rental housing projects located in Ames, Burlington, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Keokuk, Mount Vernon, Sioux City, and West Burlington.
“Housing is foundational to the economic mobility of Iowans and the strength of our communities,” said Iowa Finance Authority Executive Director Debi Durham. “The financing announced today will provide hundreds of Iowa families and seniors with homes in which they can thrive in communities all throughout the state.”
“Not only will the new Keokuk Family Flats provide an additional 47 rental homes in our community, but it will also be a tremendous catalyst for economic ripple effects as more of our workforce will be able to live near where they work,” said City of Keokuk Mayor Kathie Mahoney.
Housing Tax Credits
The Internal Revenue Service makes an annual per capita allocation of federal tax credits to each state for the Federal Housing Tax Credit program. The Iowa Finance Authority is charged with allocating those credits to affordable-housing developers. The developers who receive tax credits sell them to investors to generate equity for the housing developments.
The Iowa Finance Authority received 24 applications requesting more than $22 million in housing tax credits in the 2023 tax credit round. IFA had a total of approximately $10 million available to allocate. The actual awards total nearly $100 million because the credits are committed annually for a ten-year period.
HOME Program
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development allocates HOME program funding among states and hundreds of localities nationwide. IFA allocates Iowa’s allocation of HOME funds to eligible entities to build and preserve affordable housing. The IFA Board of Directors today approved $5.1 million in HOME funds to support eight rental-housing tax-credit projects.
