Four Iowa cities are getting a combined 595 new affordable rental homes after the state awarded nearly $9 million in federal housing tax credits on Nov. 4. The Iowa Finance Authority Board of Directors approved the funding for developments in Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Waterloo and West Des Moines, alongside nearly $66 million in tax-exempt bond financing to help get the projects built.
The board announced the awards Nov. 4, according to kwwl.com, with the money flowing through the federal 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which pairs tax credits with tax-exempt bonds. As the Business Record reports, the program is designed to help finance affordable rental housing for income-qualified households.
The four winning developments were chosen through a competitive scoring process, per the same kwwl.com report. Demand for the funding far outstripped what was available this round: the state received six applications requesting more than $14 million in annual tax credits and nearly $104 million in tax-exempt bonds, blowing past the round's $90 million bond capacity, according to a release carried by einnews.com.
What's Being Built, City by City
In Council Bluffs, Crescent Heights Apartment Homes will bring 240 new apartments through new construction, per the Business Record. West Des Moines is getting Central at 8th, a 156-unit new-construction project, while Dubuque's project, known as The Wilmac, will convert an existing building into 112 apartments rather than build from scratch.
Waterloo's award, Rath Fifteen 15, will add 87 apartments by converting an existing building as well. Between the two conversion projects and the two new-construction developments in Council Bluffs and West Des Moines, the round reflects a mix of approaches the einnews.com release describes more broadly as funding built through both new construction and the conversion of existing buildings into apartments.
A Credit Program Marking a Milestone
The federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program just marked its 40th anniversary in October, according to kwwl.com's report. Over those four decades, the program has supported the development of more than 36,000 rental homes in Iowa, the outlet notes. Under the program's structure, the federal tax credits developers receive are claimed over 10 years, per the einnews.com release.
This isn't the only recent round of Iowa housing credits. In a separate award cycle, the Iowa Finance Authority handed out more than $11.3 million in federal housing tax credits to support the construction and rehabilitation of 338 affordable rental homes across nine Iowa communities, according to kmaland.com. That round included the proposed Spin Lofts project in Council Bluffs, which received $1.2 million in tax credits to build 45 new units for families, and the Commons on First project in Greenfield, which received just over $912,000 for 24 new family units, per the same kmaland.com report.
