NEVADA

By Dana Enfinger

CARSON CITY—Assisted living developments are a priority for the Nevada Housing Division (NHD). It will give priority to those projects in 2008, according to Hilary Lopez, chief of federal programs for NHD.

Also, the set-aside for additional tax credit funding was decreased from 5 percent to 2.5 percent to allow more funds to be available for new projects.

In 2008, projects targeting lowerincome households will no longer be eligible for preference points, said Lopez. No threshold requirements were changed for 2008.

In 2007, affordable developers in Nevada requested $13.1 million in lowincome housing tax credits (LIHTCs), and NHD reserved nearly $5 million. Fourteen projects, consisting of 499 units, received 2007 reservations.

Fifty-seven percent of 2007 reservations went to nonprofits, while 23 percent of reservations were awarded to for-profit developers. Public housing authorities received 20 percent of reservations. The median tax credit award was $671,000, while the median project size was 73 units. Lopez estimated the state’s housing trust fund awarded $12 million to housing in 2007.

The NHD has $5.1 million in federal LIHTC authority for 2008. Lopez estimated that the maximum LIHTC award would be $1 million. The deadline for applications is May 9, 2008.

A set-aside pool exists for projects requiring additional tax credits, which are awarded non-competitively to eligible projects on a pro-rata basis. Projects cannot receive more than 10 percent of their original allocation in additional credits and must document cost increases. Lopez reported that affordable projects in Nevada are battling high land and construction costs, but those costs are beginning to stabilize.

NHD did not disclose whether it issued tax-exempt bond financing for multifamily projects in 2007 or what the volume cap might be in 2008.

The agency predicted in 2006 that combined single-family and multifamily demand would be $50 million to $100 million in 2007 "due to very high occupancy rates in [the] state’s urban areas." Single-family housing bonds totaled $40 million in 2007.