Here Is Where LIHTCs Go
Since its introduction in 1996, Missouri’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been the state’s primary tool for incentivizing the development of affordable housing. It has also been Missouri’s costliest tax credit program, and one of its most inefficient. For a program that has cost the state billions, Missouri taxpayers deserve to know how the money is being spent.
That’s why I reached out to the state agency in charge of allocating the tax credits, the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC). The MHDC charged $122.76 for a list of projects and costs from the last 19 years of LIHTC allocation. (I also requested similar data from the 14 other states that have a state LIHTC program; they all provided the information free of charge.)
Missourians now can find where these LIHTC projects are located and how much they receive in subsidies from state and federal governments. The link below has a map displaying data on LIHTC projects since 2000:
The census tracts are colored by poverty rate, with the red and blue diverging at the statewide poverty rate of 14.6 %. The black dots represent every LIHTC project awarded since 2000. When hovering over a dot, the project’s name, address, city, county, owner, year awarded, and federal and state annual LIHTC allocation are shown.
Having this data is a good first step in analyzing and ultimately proposing solutions to the complex, problematic system that is Missouri LITHC.
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