Housing Commissioner Announces Funding Availability

Resources will help address the growing need for affordable housing

ALBANY, NY (10/26/2007)(readMedia)-- Deborah VanAmerongen, commissioner of the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal today announced $25 million in state and federal tax credits and $87 million in funding anticipated to be awarded next year. These resources will help to preserve, develop and create affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents and people with special needs, and to provide support to downtown business areas throughout the state.

Commissioner VanAmerongen said the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and the Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC) “are responding to changes in the marketplace and input from the development community – both for-profit and nonprofit – by making some programmatic changes that will result in better products. We must adjust our policies to what is happening in our communities in order to keep them relevant.”

Commissioner VanAmerongen also serves as the Chairperson of the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation.

Some of the changes that appear in the Notice of Credit Availability (NOCA) for the federal Low Income Housing Credit program (LIHC) are:

• An increase in the maximum allocation for LIHC projects, from $1 million to $1.3 million;

• An increase in the maximum allocation, from $1.2 million to $1.5 million, for LIHC projects where fifty percent of the units are reserved for large families or persons with special needs; and

• LIHC set-asides of up to $2 million for supportive housing projects and $3 million for preservation projects.

In addition, the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) issued by the HTFC states that it will now maintain an open window for applications submitted under the Small Projects Initiative.

All three notices (LIHC/SLIHC, NOCA, HTFC NOFA) provide schedules for application workshops to be held statewide in the month of November 2007. Deadlines for applications under all programs are also provided.

For the complete versions of these documents, please visit our website at nysdhcr.gov.

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