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Low Income Housing Tax Credit & Congress, Where Do We Stand?

7/28/2017

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By Evan Carmen
PictureThe Coolidge at Sudbury Apartments near Boston, Mass.,
used the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to
finance the construction of 64 units.
Our country’s public housing program was first created in 1937 during the Great Depression with a goal of providing affordable housing to low-income individuals and families. The federal government continued to pass major legislation through the 1970s that increased the number of buildings created expressly for affordable housing. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the federal government increased the number of buildings available for low-income seniors primarily through the Section 236 and Section 202 programs. Because the Section 202 program was created specifically for seniors, amenities and services came with the building that addressed the specific needs of the elderly. Unfortunately, since the 1980s affordable housing has exhibited a steady decline. Consequently, because of the political environment, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) which was originally created with bipartisan support under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, has emerged as the best way to create and preserve affordable housing. 
​
The LIHTC is administered by the Internal Review Service (IRS), which awards federal tax credits to the private sector to encourage investments in affordable housing. Ideally the federal government would reinstitute policies like the Section 202 capital advance program for the creation of affordable housing; however the LIHTC has been able to pick up some of the slack by creating additional low-income buildings.  To further the point, the LIHTC helps finance about 90 percent of all affordable housing in the United States, and has helped fund the creation of about 3 million apartments since its inception.  

The B’nai B’rith Housing Network is beginning to greatly benefit from the LIHTC by using this government program to benefit low-income senior residents. In St. Louis, Covenant Place Apartments used the LIHTC as a financing mechanism behind the rehabilitation of the property. Initial projections had the project costing about $84 million, with the LIHTC funding about $29 million or 35 percent of the initial cost estimate. When the project is completed it will offer 355 affordable apartments and a host of amenities. Joan Denison, executive director of Covenant Place said, “The LIHTC program made it possible for Covenant Place to embark on the redevelopment of its three aging and functionally obsolete buildings. Without the LIHTC funds, the cost of development would have been out of reach. Today, we have the new Covenant Place I, Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Building, providing 101 energy efficient, accessible one bedroom apartments, in which the residents say they feel healthier and happier. With a rapidly growing senior population that continues to live longer, there is a critical need for affordable, supportive and accessible housing. The LIHTC program is essential to the future of affordable housing.”

In Massachusetts, The Coolidge at Sudbury Apartments used the LIHTC to finance the construction of 64 units. Like Covenant Place in St. Louis, Sudbury Apartments used the LIHTC as a major financial driver to fund the cost of the project. For example, the total development cost of the project was about $16 million and the LIHTC contributed about $10 million of the financing.

Given the importance of the LIHTC in the affordable housing community, what is the outlook for the continued success of the program? Recently, the Trump administration released its initial tax reform policy. While the initial proposal does not address the LIHTC, the mere threat of tax reform has caused these tax credits to lose their value because they are tied to the corporate tax rate. Under President Trump’s proposal, the corporate tax rate would be reduced from 35 percent to 15 percent, causing potential LIHTC investors to have less tax liability. A decrease in investor’s tax liability lessens their desire to purchase the LIHTC. According to Todd Crow of The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (TAHTCC), the value of the tax credit has dropped from $1.00 per credit to as low as $0.85 per credit. While the fate of Trump’s tax reform proposal remains unclear, anxiety about the future of tax policy has caused the private sector to re-evaluate future construction projects.

Fortunately, all is not lost for the LIHTC!  The good news is that The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act has been introduced in both houses of Congress to strengthen the LIHTC, and has received bi-partisan support.  While both versions of legislation are similar, the biggest difference between the two bills is that only the Senate’s version expands the housing credit. The Senate’s legislation expands the housing credit by 50 percent, for the purpose of creating or preserving about 1.3 million affordable homes.  However, both bills have provisions to make recapitalization of properties easier and establish a 4 percent minimum Housing Credit rate for finance acquisitions and Housing Bond-financed developments. If this legislation becomes law, it would inject a much needed jolt in the arm of the affordable housing community, which needed assistance even before the prospects of Trump’s tax reform proposals. The United States has a housing crises and the LIHTC is one tool to improve the issue.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said, “The affordable housing crisis is exploding all across the country. We are facing pressures from all sides: demand for rental housing has increased by 21 percent, but we are building units at the lower rate since the 1970s.  If we do not act to increase the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—our best way to build affordable homes—by 2025 over 15 million Americans could be spending half their income on rent.  This is unacceptable.”  

Based on the current environment, the United States federal government is still best suited to offer solutions to our country’s housing crises. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, without the LIHTC, “construction costs would have to be reduced by 72 percent of the current construction cost average” to see the development of new housing.  Without the LIHTC, how is the private sector supposed to absorb the additional construction costs, and still provide affordable low-income housing?  

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) Michael Bennet (D-Colo.),  and Cantwell deserve credit for being original cosponsors of  the Senate’s version of the legislation, and more members of Congress should come out in support of a policy that looks to increase affordable housing. Members of Congress need to act now, because according to The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition 5.1 million senior households now use more than half their income on housing, and in 2030 the number of seniors is predicted to double. 

Photo via The Coolidge at Sudbury

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​​Evan Carmen, Esq. is the Assistant Director for Aging Policy at the B’nai B’rith International Center for Senior Services. He holds a B.A. from American University in political science and a J.D. from New York Law School.  Prior to joining B’nai B’rith International he worked in the Office of Presidential Correspondence for the Obama White House, practiced as an attorney at Covington and Burling, LLP, worked as an aide for New York City Council Member Tony Avella and interned for Congressman Gary Ackerman’s office. Click here to read more from Evan Carmen.
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CEIRPP: A Rejectionist, Hateful Body Fully Funded by the United Nations

7/18/2017

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English

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) has a very attractive title, which may lead us to think of it as an entity that seeks peace and justice. However, the reality is quite different.
 
CEIRPP was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1975, together with the infamous resolution that—only 30 years after the Holocaust—declared that Zionism was equal to racism. And from its inception, the Committee was charged with promoting the idea that the creation of the State of Israel was a historical injustice (despite the fact that the United Nations itself recommended its creation in 1947).
 
One of the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people” the title of this committee refers to, is the so-called “right or return” of the Palestinian refugees to what constitutes today the State of Israel. And by Palestinian refugees, they not only mean the surviving refugees from Israel’s War of Independence, but also their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, numbering today more than five million people. CEIRPP is therefore committed to end the existence of Israel through a program of mass migration.
 
It was on Nov. 13, 1974, that Yasser Arafat addressed the U.N. General Assembly. In his speech, in which he denounced “the Zionist entity” and stated that Zionism was an imperialist, colonialist and racist ideology, he made it clear that he was committed to ending Israel’s existence. Nine days later, the U.N. General Assembly followed through by adopting a resolution that declared it to be “the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted.”
 
The anti-Israel forces at the U.N. then went to work and, in 1975, passed the resolution that established CEIRPP. This resolution reaffirmed that it viewed the inalienable rights as including the “right of return.” Thus, from the outset, CEIRPP’s mandate was to promote a maximalist position that goes against the “two states for two peoples” solution that the U.N.—at least formally—pledges to support.
 
In 1977, at the request of the Committee and to assist with its mission, the Division of Palestinian Rights (DPR)—initially the "Special Unit for Palestinian Rights"—was established within the U.N. Secretariat (it should be noted that the Palestinians are the only people in the world who have their own division within the U.N. Secretariat).
 
Together, with the creation of DPR, Nov. 29 was designated as the "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People." What this date commemorates is the adoption by the U.N. General Assembly, back in 1947, of the resolution that recommended the partition of Palestine into two states. On this date each year, the Committee—with the assistance of DPR—organizes events in different cities around the world, where it is claimed that while Israel was created in 1948, the Palestinian state is still waiting, and Israel is blamed for it. The curious thing is that none of these commemorations mention the fact that it was precisely the Arab leaders who did not accept the 1947 partition plan and who even today refuse to accept Israel's right to exist.
 
That the implementation of the “right of return” continues to this day to be one of CEIRPP’s main goals can be clearly unveiled by reading the information note that describes CEIRRP’s mandate (at the site of UNISPAL, the U.N. information system for the question of Palestine). It expressly refers to the "right of return" of the Palestinian refugees and provides that "the various refugee resettlement and compensation schemes advanced over the years... were always meant as interim measures, not as substitutes for the right of return."
 
It is important to mention that only in the case of the Palestinian refugees the "refugee status" passes from generation to generation. All the other refugees of the world stop being refugees when they are resettled in a new place. But in the case of the Palestinians, the organization that assists them (UNRWA) never had resettlement as its goal. As a consequence, the Palestinian refugees are always kept in a precarious situation as they cannot be fully resettled anywhere, and their permanence and constant growth is used as a weapon against Israel.
 
In the numerous events that CEIRPP organizes around the world, Israel is demonized and the Palestinians are detached from any responsibility for the conflict. Such a biased entity should not be a part of the U.N. system.
 
By supporting CEIRPP and the “right of return,” the U.N. has become the vehicle by which the Palestinian leadership believes they will be able to end Israel's existence. And this is why they refuse to negotiate a peace agreement, which would necessarily imply the recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the abandonment of the “right of return.”
 
The recent forum organized by CEIRPP at the U.N. headquarters in New York commemorating “50 Years of Occupation,” is an excellent example of the powerful and harmful anti-Israel propaganda that emanates from this Committee, in the name of the U.N.
 
Saeb Erekat, the lead negotiator of the Palestinian Authority, opened the forum by making a shameful comparison between Israel and ISIS, stating that an "anti-life" culture prevails in Israel, and claiming that Hamas is not a terrorist organization. He repeatedly compared Israel to apartheid South Africa and—despite claiming that the Palestinians seek a two-state solution—he refused to recognize Israel as the Jewish state.
 
The Committee and Division not only disseminate this hateful anti-Israel propaganda in the name of the U.N. They also coordinate the work of multiple anti-Israel NGOs around the world. As was rightfully denounced by Israel's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Danny Danon, NGOs with links to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were represented at this forum. The PFLP recently claimed responsibility for the murder of Israeli Police Officer Hadas Malka in Jerusalem.
 
Also present at the forum were numerous NGOs that actively promote BDS, a movement that not only seeks the end of Israeli settlements, but also the destruction of Israel and that is clearly anti-Semitic in nature. Many of these organizations, when speaking about “occupation,” clearly stated that it did not begin with the Six-Day War, but with the creation of Israel itself.
 
Another example of the radical agenda of this forum was the presence of a representative of the Palestinian soccer club of Chile. Members of this club recently engaged in a violent anti-Semitic incident against the players of a Chilean Jewish soccer team.
 
In addition to BDS, the various anti-Israel strategies that the Palestinians are pursuing internationally were discussed, including the scandalous offensive that is being carried out at UNESCO, with the goal of erasing the links between the Jewish people and their most sacred places, an unacceptable falsification of history that the world is unfortunately consenting to.
 
In sum, CEIRPP makes it possible for a powerful anti-Israel propaganda apparatus to function at the heart of the U.N. system, and its radical agenda is counterproductive to the achievement of peace. It is time for democratic countries to stop funding an entity that causes a great many Palestinians to believe that the United Nations with ultimately deliver a Palestinian state from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] Sea.

español

CEIRPP: Una Entidad Radicalmente Anti-Israelí Financiada por la ONU

El Comité para el Ejercicio de los Derechos Inalienables del Pueblo Palestino (CEIRPP por sus siglas en ingles) tiene sin duda un atractivo titulo, que nos hace pensar que se trata de un organismo que lucha por la paz y la justicia. Sin embargo la realidad es muy diferente.
 
Este Comité fue creado por la Asamblea General de la ONU en el año 1975, juntamente con la infame resolución que – a solo 30 años del Holocausto – declaró que el sionismo era igual al racismo. Y desde sus inicios, el Comité se encargo de promover la idea de que la creación del Estado de Israel fue una injusticia histórica (a pesar de que la misma ONU recomendó su creación en 1947).
 
Uno de los “derechos inalienables del pueblo palestino” a los que hace referencia el titulo de este comité, es el llamado “derecho de retorno” de los refugiados palestinos a la tierra que constituye hoy el Estado de Israel. Y por refugiados palestinos, no se refiere solamente a los refugiados de la guerra de independencia de Israel de 1948 sino a sus hijos, nietos y bisnietos, los que llegan a ser hoy mas de cinco millones de personas. CEIRPP, por lo tanto, pretende acabar con la existencia del Estado de Israel mediante un programa de migración masiva.
 
Cuando el 13 de noviembre de 1974, Yaser Arafat se dirigió a la Asamblea General de la ONU, dijo que el Sionismo era una ideología imperialista, colonialista y racista, y mostro claramente que quería acabar con la existencia de Israel. Nueve días después, la Asamblea General adopto una resolución que declaro que es un “derecho inalienable del pueblo palestino el retornar a sus hogares y propiedades de las que fueron desplazados y desarraigados.”
 
A continuación, las fuerzas anti-Israelíes de la ONU se pusieron a trabajar y, en 1975, lograron que se apruebe la resolución que creo CEIRPP. Esta resolución, reafirmo que los derechos inalienables incluían el “derecho de retorno.” Así es como, desde el comienzo, el mandato de CEIRPP fue promover una postura maximalista que va directamente en contra de la solución de dos estados para dos pueblos que –al menos formalmente- la ONU dice promover.
 
En el año 1977, a instancias del Comité y para ayudar con su misión, se creó la División de los Derechos de los Palestinos (DPR) - inicialmente la “Unidad Especial de los Derechos de los Palestinos” – dentro de la Secretaria de la ONU (cabe resaltar que los Palestinos son el único pueblo del mundo que tiene su propia división dentro de la Secretaria).
 
Juntamente con la creación de DPR, se designo al 29 de noviembre como el “Día Internacional de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino.” Lo que se conmemora es la adopción por parte de la Asamblea General de la resolución 181, del 29 de noviembre de 1947, que recomendó la partición de Palestina en dos Estados. En esta fecha, el Comité –con la asistencia de DPR- organiza eventos en diferentes ciudades del mundo en los que se denuncia que mientras el Estado de Israel fue creado, el Estado Palestino aun espera, culpando naturalmente a Israel por este hecho. Lo curioso es que en ninguna de estas conmemoraciones se menciona el hecho de que fueron precisamente los lideres árabes quienes no aceptaron el plan de partición de la ONU de aquel 29 de noviembre de 1947 y quienes aun hoy se niegan a aceptar el derecho de Israel a existir.
 
Que la implementación del derecho de retorno continua siendo aun hoy uno de los ejes principales del trabajo de CEIRPP puede verse claramente en la nota informativa que describe su mandato (en la pagina de UNISPAL, el sistema de información de la ONU para la cuestión de Palestina). La misma se refiere expresamente al “derecho de retorno” de los refugiados palestinos y establece que cualquier compensación o re-establecimiento de los mismos solo podrá considerarse una medida “interina,” y que no podrá sustituir al derecho de retorno.
 
Es importante mencionar que solo en el caso de los refugiados palestinos la calidad de refugiado pasa de generación en generación. Todos los otros refugiados del mundo dejan de ser refugiados cuando se establecen en otro lugar. Pero en el caso de los Palestinos, la entidad de la ONU que los asiste (UNRWA) nunca tuvo como objetivo su re-establecimiento. Esto hace por un lado, que los refugiados palestinos estén siempre en una situación precaria no pudiendo re-establecerse en forma plena en lugar alguno, y por otro, que su permanencia y constante crecimiento puedan ser utilizados como un arma en contra de Israel.
 
En los numerosos eventos que CEIRPP organiza alrededor del mundo, se demoniza a Israel y se desliga a los Palestinos de toda responsabilidad por el conflicto. Un órgano con semejante parcialidad no debería formar parte del sistema de la ONU.
 
Las Naciones Unidas, al apoyar a CEIRPP y al derecho de retorno, se constituyen en el vehículo por el cual los Palestinos creen que conseguirán poner fin a la existencia de Israel. Y es por esto que se niegan a negociar un acuerdo de paz, que implicaría necesariamente el reconocimiento de Israel como Estado-nación del pueblo judío y el abandono del derecho de retorno.
 
El reciente foro organizado por CEIRPP en la sede de la ONU en Nueva York conmemorando los “50 años de Ocupación,” es un excelente ejemplo de la poderosa y nociva propaganda anti-israelí que emanada de este Comité, en nombre de la ONU.
 
Saeb Erekat (el principal negociador de la Autoridad Palestina) inauguro el foro haciendo una vergonzosa comparación entre Israel y ISIS, diciendo que en Israel prevalece una cultura “anti-vida” y alegando que Hamas no es una organización terrorista. Comparo muchas veces a Israel con la Sudáfrica del Apartheid y – a pesar de repetir incasablemente que los Palestinos buscan una solución de dos Estados – se negó a reconocer a Israel como el Estado del pueblo judío.
 
El Comité y la División no solo diseminan esta poderosa propaganda anti-Israelí en nombre de la ONU. Coordinan además el trabajo de múltiples ONGs antiisraelíes alrededor del mundo. Estuvieron representadas en este foro ONGs con vínculos con Hamas y el PFLP (El Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina) como lo denuncio el representante permanente de Israel ante la ONU Danny Danon. De hecho, el PFLP se adjudico recientemente la responsabilidad por el sangriento asesinato de la policía Israelí Hadas Malka en Jerusalem.
 
También estuvieron representadas numerosas ONGs que promueven activamente el BDS, movimiento que no solo busca el fin de los asentamientos sino la destrucción de Israel y que es netamente antisemita. Muchas de estas organizaciones, al hablar de “ocupación”, fueron claras en manifestar que esta no empezó con la guerra del 67 sino con la creación misma del Estado de Israel.
 
Otro ejemplo de la agenda radical de este foro fue la participación de un representante del Club Palestino de futbol de Chile. Recientemente, miembros de este club protagonizaron un escandaloso episodio de violencia antisemita en contra de los jugadores del equipo de futbol de la comunidad judía chilena.
 
Además de BDS se discutieron las diversas estrategias anti-Israelíes que los palestinos seguirán implementando, incluyendo por supuesto la escandalosa ofensiva que se esta llevando a cabo en UNESCO, con el objetivo de negar los vínculos entre el pueblo judío y sus sitios mas sagrados. Una inaceptable falsificación de la historia que el mundo esta consintiendo con su casi total inacción.
 
En suma, CEIRPP hace posible que funcione en el corazón de la ONU un poderoso aparato de propaganda anti-israelí cuya agenda radical es contraproducente para la paz. Es tiempo de que los Estados democráticos dejen de financiar a un ente que hace que muchísimos palestinos crean que las Naciones Unidas les otorgara un Estado palestino desde el rio (Jordan) hasta el mar (mediterráneo).
​

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Adriana Camisar, is an attorney by training who holds a graduate degree in international law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School (Tufts University). She has been B'nai B'rith International Special Advisor on Latin American Affairs since late 2008. In 2013 she relocated to Argentina, her native country. Prior to joining B'nai B'rith International, she worked as a research assistant to visiting Professor Luis Moreno Ocampo (former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court), at Harvard University; interned at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs; worked at a children's rights organization in San Diego, Calif.; and worked briefly as a research assistant to the Secretary for Legal Affairs at the Organization of American States (OAS). To view some of her additional content, Click Here.
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Senior Citizens, Politicians Rally to #SaveHUD202

7/12/2017

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Hundreds turned out when B’nai B’rith International, LeadingAge and other organizations co-hosted the Save HUD 202 Rally on Capitol Hill.

The purpose of the rally was to demonstrate how important existing Section 202 buildings are for low-income seniors and to indicate the need for additional funding for affordable housing, specifically for older Americans. B’nai B’rith launched its senior housing program in 1968, and since 1971, in a cooperative partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we have made rental apartments available for senior citizens with limited incomes, primarily through the Section 202 programs.

In May, the Trump Administration released its full Fiscal Year 2018 Budget and for the first time, the residents of Section 202 buildings could see reductions in their rental subsidies.

Unfortunately, the Trump Administration is proposing to give the secretary of HUD the authority to increase rental contributions from 30 percent of adjusted income to 35 percent of gross income, and increase minimum rental payments to $50 a month. Increasing the minimum rental payments to $50 a month would impact people who make less than $2,000 a year.  While the administration’s proposed budget has a hardship exemption, I am curious to hear from the Trump Administration as to which low-income seniors who make less than $2,000 don’t qualify for a hardship exemption.

I think all reasonable people can agree, seniors who make less than $2,000 a year don’t need the federal government increasing their rent!      

With Congress ultimately responsible for writing the federal budget, having hundreds of people at the rally on Capitol Hill was a great way for the housing community to express its concern for low-income seniors.  

Also, B’nai B’rith was extremely pleased to see Senators Bob Casey and Robert Menendez and Rep. Al Green at the rally expressing their support for the Section 202 program. These members of Congress represent residents in B’nai B’rith sponsored buildings across the country, and we certainly appreciate their commitment to seniors and affordable housing.  

During the rally Sen. Menendez said, “I am proud to stand with you today and every day to fight to protect and expand affordable housing for seniors.” We certainly urge other members of Congress to support additional funding for senior affordable housing as the need will only increase.
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​Evan Carmen, Esq. is the Assistant Director for Aging Policy at the B’nai B’rith International Center for Senior Services. He holds a B.A. from American University in political science and a J.D. from New York Law School.  Prior to joining B’nai B’rith International he worked in the Office of Presidential Correspondence for the Obama White House, practiced as an attorney at Covington and Burling, LLP, worked as an aide for New York City Council Member Tony Avella and interned for Congressman Gary Ackerman’s office. Click here to read more from Evan Carmen.
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