First-of-its-kind action aims to quickly create more affordable housing in Arizona
PHOENIX, AZ – The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) today announced it has allocated more than $22 million of 2024 federal 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in 2023. The state is taking this extraordinary step to stimulate affordable housing development to help meet our state’s current housing shortfall.
“We are allocating all of our highly-coveted federal tax credits for 2024 to address the state’s critical need for housing, because this crisis is something that needs to be addressed immediately,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “I’m taking this historic measure to ensure that safe, affordable housing is available for all Arizonans.”
Based on our population, Arizona receives just over $22 million in LIHTC annually from the federal government. Federal law allows states to forward allocate tax credits from year to year and Arizona will be able to allocate 2025 LIHTC for next year’s awards. In some past years, ADOH has forward allocated a portion of the following year’s tax credits; this is the first time in state history that Arizona is putting 100% of the following year’s credits to work in the current year to fund development.
“Every year we will get these credits to fuel development and having the flexibility to use all of next year’s batch in 2023 will jumpstart the building of more affordable housing communities in a shorter time frame,” said ADOH Director Joan Serviss.
ADOH is also announcing today that it has awarded 15 new affordable housing projects for 2023, including 7 in rural communities which ties the agency record for rural awards set last year. Today’s awards will generate 1,049 new housing units throughout Arizona.
“By awarding these new projects and leveraging our tax credit resources, plus the historic contribution to the state Housing Trust Fund, we expect to see a significant impact on housing across Arizona in 2023,” said Governor Hobbs.
