By Suni Kartha, Staff Counsel
On June 26th, the Illinois Housing Department Authority (IHDA) approved its latest round of 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) awards. LIHTC is the United States’ primary financial tool for building affordable housing, subsidizing nearly 90% of available units in the country. This current round of awards, totaling $37 million, will support the development of 22 projects. The impact of this funding is significant—it is anticipated to create 969 new affordable homes in 20 municipalities across 15 Illinois counties. Unfortunately, once again, none of these developments will be in the most expensive communities in the state—but there are indications that the next funding round in 2027 may be different.
In 2003, the Illinois General Assembly recognized the responsibility of every Illinois municipality to provide affordable housing by passing the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act (AHPAA). AHPAA sets a minimum of 10% affordability, and municipalities who do not meet this threshold are designated as non-exempt local governments (NELGs) that are subject to the law.1 IHDA, as the agency that administers AHPAA and LIHTC, has both the ability and the authority to further this legislative priority by more frequently directing LIHTC funding to NELGs.
In recent years, there has been a dearth of funding awards and applications in NELGs, as we have covered previously. As a result, Impact for Equity has repeatedly advocated for IHDA to use its Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), the document that sets criteria for allocating awards, to better incentivize projects in NELGs. We are pleased that the 2027-2028 draft QAP released in May seems to do just that, awarding projects in NELGs up to 5 points (an increase from 2 points in previous QAPs).
The draft QAP is a major overhaul of IHDA’s points allocation process, and there are significant unknowns about the impact of these changes, including how the increased points to projects in NELGs will work in practice. Impact for Equity, in partnership with several other housing advocate organizations, submitted comments to IHDA on the draft QAP outlining these outstanding questions and concerns. IHDA will share the final QAP with its board on July 24 and publish the approved QAP on its web site in early August. Despite our outstanding questions, we are encouraged by the changes IHDA has shared so far and applaud the agency’s recognition of affordable development in NELGs as an important state priority worthy of additional points in its QAP.
