The LIHTC program is the most powerful tool we have in our country to create/preserve affordable housing. LIHTC is involved in 92% of all projects. Every year, the demand for tax credits exceeds available resources. To equitably dole out these resources, potential projects are..

"scored" by the State Housing Agencies; higher score - better project. Things like # of bedrooms, population served, HC accessible units, etc. all factor in. Fine so far. Not part of the original 1986 legislation, but added by states over the past two decades, is a requirement..

that your application for tax credits be accompanied by letters of support from local politicians. The projects that receive credits and the ones that don't are separated by a few points, and these letters are HEAVILY weighted. Putting the fate of your development in the hands..

of the mayor, or city council. Politicians who, for the most part, would like to stay politicians. They come to your community meeting to listen to voter feedback. So, when Karen and Brent stand up and complain about your project, the politicians take notice. Often, Karen and..

Brent are active members in the community. More often than not, they are campaign donors. People politicians don't like to piss off. Also, when Karen and Brent say they "are concerned about traffic" what they really mean is "we don't want poor people living here." If you think..

that's not what they mean, then you are a fucking idiot. So the politician has a choice, support your project and risk pissing off voters or kill your project to get re-elected. Which do you think they choose?? There are 4 potential outcomes, and I have experienced them all..

Letter of Opposition - The mayor goes out of his way to write a letter to the state saying they don't like your project. You're basically dead in the water. No Letter of Support - They don't support your project, you don't get points for this on your application, you have little

to no chance of getting your project approved. Letter of Support - Perfect. Green Light. Letter of Support* - the * is because you need to pay off a politician. I have met with mayors who have flatly asked me to put 50k in cash in a bag in order for them to support a project,

and I have seriously considered it. Spent sleepless nights thinking through risk/reward. Or they tell you, "hire this contractor" (at 40% above market) and you'll get the letter of support. It's extortion, and it happens in EVERY state.

This is why wealthy communities have near-zero affordable housing, but poor communities are full of them. Letters of Support is the government tacitly supporting segregation and concentration of poverty.

@mu2myoc I was looking to build support for a project on some covered land that I owned. Spoke with an expediter who told me that it was "easy to work with" my councilman. A month later the councilman was indicted for bribery.

@evanmr This piece of shit asked me for cash in a bag. I'm not in jail now because I said no. But, I spent days thinking "I should say yes." https://www.heraldnews.com/sto...

@mu2myoc @WalkerEvans @brentincolumbus Does this happen in Columbus, can this be looked into? Crazy...

@pslohmann @WalkerEvans @brentincolumbus Having never been to Columbus, I can tell you with 99% certainty it happens there. If the guys you tagged are a.) not anonymous and b.) actively involved in affordable housing, they will be careful about weighing in.

@mu2myoc The primary issue I have with Letters of Support isn’t that they could be used to leverage corruption. While true, the deeper issue is the added layers of bureaucracy where there doesn’t need to be any. “Who likes your project?” doesn’t have anything to do with fundamentals.

@Adam_Dallimore 100% I'm not out here trying to fix corruption. Just pointing out that putting affordable housing in "good" neighborhoods is far more difficult/political than it should be.

@mu2myoc I have worked with w multiple state housing agencies and this is in no way true.The letters are just formalities. They don’t impact the scoring in any way.They’re just to make sure local officials are aware of the project. Letters of no support are given and they are just ignored

@airJordanLloyd There's nuance here, but I've seen these things play out. Could be letters of support, could be zoning variances for LIHTC deals, could be matching local funds to "show support" for a project. The local politicians have significant sway in my experience.

@mu2myoc This short docu Frontline/NPR did a few years ago highlighted all the issues with the LIHTC program. A few Senators appear in it and claimed to be trying to fix it but you know the Senate is where good ideas go to die. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/front...

@mu2myoc You have barely touched the real rot. LIHTC a giant Affrmitv action econ program for 99% White devlprs, lwyrs, architks, misc. cntrkters, other- to build housing for Blk/Brn pple in Blk naberhoods. 3.5B units since 1986 start. Trillions trnsfered from US Treasury to White pple.

@mu2myoc In California these letters are more or less letters of acknowledgment. We do a lot of things backward but this one we got right. Doesn’t solve all the structural obstacles to building AH in wealthy area, but it is one less.

@mu2myoc The abuse of Public Facility Corporations is another travesty in affordable housing.

@mu2myoc @pslohmann Good explanation, sounds pretty accurate to me. It's one of those open secrets in many communities.

@mu2myoc Letters of Support are encouraged but not part of the scoring in PA, FWIW.

@mu2myoc 💯. Not a lie told anywhere in here😞

@mu2myoc @UrbanLandRent Sounds like states might consider passing legislation removing the letter of support requirement. Any movement to do that in California?

@mu2myoc Is this a case of unintended consequences? As in, planners required letters of support to ensure LIHTCs don't remain idle waiting for projects unlikely to be approved, but that unintentionally created new power dynamics.

@mu2myoc Holy shit 🤯

@mu2myoc There is nothing wrong with not wanting to live near poor people. Have you seen a poor person? I don’t pay the property taxes I pay so that I have to deal with poors. Foh

@mu2myoc You see any way to fix this?

@mu2myoc U CD