Congress Passes War Supplemental that Includes Gulf Coast Provisions

Yesterday President Obama signed into law the Defense Supplemental bill that will fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in that bill are a number of Gulf Coast related provisions.

The first provision will provide $80 million to Gulf Coast states in housing vouchers. It has not been determined how much each state will receive. These vouchers have flexibility and can be used for either tenant-based or project-based vouchers. The provision does not specifically call for priority for residents living in FEMA temporary housing, but HUD still indicates that this is their intent. The vouchers will be dispersed by HUD soon.

A second Gulf Coast provision was clarification on Gulf Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) tax credit projects qualifying to apply for TCAP (gap financing) funds from the federal stimulus package, as long as the project has some allocation of regular low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). An allocation of LIHTCs can be concurrent to award of TCAP funds. This is good news for affordable housing developments.

Finally the bill included language for FEMA to extend reimbursement for case management relating to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita through March 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact Elisabeth Gehl at elisabeth@lano.org.