The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC) has announced the recipients of the 2020 Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Awards, recognizing outstanding affordable housing developments that have demonstrated especially impactful use of the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC).
The annual awards honor housing credit developments that are strengthening communities, improving resident opportunities, and boosting economies in urban, suburban, and rural areas across the country. The awards—announced virtually this year—come at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact have intensified the need for affordable housing, compounding the challenge facing at-risk families and individuals already struggling to pay rent.
“The housing credit continues to spur development of affordable homes that go above and beyond for the families they serve,” said AHTCC executive director Emily Cadik. “The Edson Award winners this year demonstrate how innovative and high-quality affordable housing can transform communities and help meet the need for education, child care, health care and other services vital to a community’s support system for at-risk families and individuals.”
AHTCC president Michael Gaber added, “The Edson awardees highlight the creative and innovative solutions that exist to combat the nation’s lack of affordable housing. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to create hardships for a growing number of families and working people across the country, now more than ever we need effective tools like the housing credit to provide stable, affordable homes.”
Edson Award winners in 2020 include 13 affordable housing projects across 11 states, with locations in rural areas, such as Jefferson, N.C., and the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona, and in urban communities including Atlanta, St. Paul, and Seattle. The awardees are:
Category: Rural
TOKA Homes III, Tohono O’odham Nation, Ariz.
Category: Small Metropolitan
Ch’anikna Commons, Anchorage, Alaska
New Path Community Housing, Boise, Idaho
Category: Large Metropolitan
Blackburn Center, Portland, Ore.
The Tony Lee Apartments, Seattle
Category: Veterans
Victory Park Veterans Residence, Lincoln, Neb.
Category: Seniors
Historic Ashe Hospital, Jefferson, N.C.
Category: Special Needs
Gardner House, Seattle
Mino Oski Ain Dah Yung, St. Paul, Minn.
Category: HUD Housing Preservation
Amani Place, Atlanta
Flat 9 at Whittier, Roxbury, Mass.
Category: Historic Preservation
Hotel Maytag Apartments, Newton, Iowa
Mercy Magnuson Place, Seattle
For more information about the 2020 Edson Award winners, please visit: https://www.taxcreditcoalition.org/edson-awards/