Louisiana

The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) has released a draft version of its proposed Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) and selection criteria for the 2013 LIHTC allocation round.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued OCC Bulletin 2012-8 which will extend the deadline for consideration of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) activities in areas that were affected by hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Representative Chris Gibson (R-NY) recently introduced the Irene and Lee Tax Relief Strom Recovery Act, H.R. 3769, which would increase the amount of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) to be allocated in states damaged by Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee in 2011.

The IRS issued Notice 2012-3 to provide guidance on current refunding issues for outstanding prior bond issues that qualify for tax-exempt bond financing under disaster relief bond programs including Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds (GO Zone Bonds), qualified Midwestern disaster area bonds and Hurricane Ike disaster area bonds under the Heartland Disaster Act.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published Revenue Service 2011-57 which dictates the amounts of unused housing credit carryover allowances allocated to qualified states. Nearly $3.66 million of unused credits were divided among the states in the National Pool.

HUD’s Department of Policy Research & Development has published three more Comprehensive Housing Market Analyses for State College, Pennsylvania; Victoria, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development recently contracted with Abt Associates Inc. and released a two-part study examining the housing recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In order to avoid the loss of approximately $1.03 million of returned GO Zone Credits at the end of calendar year 2011, the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) Board of Commissioners approved the following strategies to allocate GO Zone Credits.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed into law HB 348, which extends and improves the residential historic rehabilitation tax credit, and the companion SB 63, which extends the commercial historic rehabilitation tax credit.

Louisiana Housing Finance Agency has released frequently asked questions with regards to its 2012 online LIHTC application process.

The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency has published seven “Frequently Asked Questions” regarding the 2011-2012 per capita tax credits funding round.

The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) has released final versions (clean and redlined) of its 2011-2012 Qualified Allocation Plan for administering the low-income housing tax credit program.