(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-05)
Fichter, Darice N.
Since its adoption in 1986, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has become the primary
engine for the creation of affordable housing in the United States. Today, the nationwide tax credit
portfolio numbers nearly one million units - an average of 65,000 rental units created every year
since the program's inception. In Georgia, the LIHTC program has produced over 48,260 units of
affordable housing. Even as the program's future holds the promise of greater production, the rent
and income restrictions for second-generation tax credit properties are fast approaching expiration.
In the absence of continuing affordability requirements owners will be free to raise rents on these
properties, threatening low-income residents with displacement and presenting policy challenges to
state and local governments.
For these reasons this research examines the post-1989 nature of the expiring tax credit issue, an
outline of the challenges to the development of housing preservation policy, the characteristics of
Georgia's 1990 to 1995 ·tax credit portfolio, and policy recommendations in ·order to facilitate
affordable housing preservation within the LIHTC program in Georgia.