Oregon

Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) released a status update on the Consolidated Funding Cycle (CFC) redesign process. The redesigned CFC is meant to be more efficient and effective process for allocating multi-family housing resources, including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and HOME funds.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in Revenue Procedure 2012-41 that it has set the inflation-adjusted State credit ceiling for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program and private activity bond caps for calendar year 2013.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently published Revenue Procedure 2012-42, which indicates the amounts of unused Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) carryovers for 2012. These carryovers, which amounts to nearly $2.43 million in unused credits, have been allocated to 34 states.

Oregon Housing and Community Services is currently seeking public comments on its proposed 2013 Annual Action Plan and its proposed Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Method of Distribution.

Oregon Housing & Community Services approved its 2012 Consolidated Funding Cycle (CFC) awards for multi-family housing during their July State Housing Council meeting. The state awarded more than $36 million in grants and tax credits to projects in 21 Oregon communities.

The IRS recently issued Notice 2012-18 to clarify rules relating to compliance monitoring and physical inspection requirements under the Rental Policy Working Group’s (RPWG) Physical Inspections Pilot Program. This program hopes to achieve a more coordinated effort for conducting physical inspections at properties that benefit from multiple sources of Federal funding with different inspection protocol

Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) has rewritten and restructured the process documentation to help applicants navigate the Consolidated Funding Cycle process for 2012.

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.

Recently, the Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office requested that all state agencies that receive General Fund and Lottery funds prepare reduction scenarios and impacts before the 2012 supplemental session. Each agency must prepare 10.5 percent reductions occurring in three increments of 3.5 percent. These budget cuts affect the Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) agency in several ways, including the Lottery funds that are allocated to OHCS for debt service on both past and future lottery-backed bonds.

Governor John Kitzhaber has announced the appointment of Margaret Shephard Van Vliet to fill the position of Oregon Housing and Community Services Director.

On August 5, 2011, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law the Oregon Low Income Community Jobs Initiative, which created a matching state tax credit to the federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC).

Oregon’s state legislature recently passed a bill (SB 817) that creates a matching state tax credit to the federal New Markets Tax Credit to further “incentivize” economic development targeted to hard-hit areas.