DES MOINES – The Iowa Finance Authority Board of Directors today awarded a total of more than $8.6 million in federal housing tax credits to support the construction of 552 rental homes for families and seniors. The twelve projects are located in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Grimes, Harlan, Marshalltown, Marion, Norwalk, Pella, Red Oak, Spencer, Urbandale and Waterloo.

In Harlan, Christiansen Meadows is receiving tax credits amounting to $710,833 for 36 affordable new construction units. In Red Oak, Prairie Fire Lofts is receiving $397,495 for 22 affordable family units through adaptive re-use. IFA Executive Director Debi Durham said “The housing tax credit awards announced today (Wednesday) will soon have a very real impact on hundreds of Iowa families and seniors who will call them home. “Not only is affordable housing the cornerstone for thriving families but it’s also integral for thriving communities. The twelve communities awarded projects today will benefit from the positive economic ripple effects for generations to come.”

The Internal Revenue Service makes an annual per capita allocation of federal tax credits to each state for the Federal Housing Tax Credit program. The Iowa Finance Authority is charged with allocating those credits to affordable housing developers. The developers who receive tax credits sell them to investors to generate equity for the housing developments. The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) received 31 applications requesting more than $22.2 million in housing tax credits in the 2019 tax credit round and IFA had approximately $8.8 million available to allocate.

The actual awards exceed $86.6 million because the credits are committed annually for a 10-year period. These projects have leveraged an additional $3.5 million in other funds, as determined by the scoring criteria within the 2019 program plan.