Some say the program should be abandoned
Olsen calculates that many more low-income households could be helped for the same cost by increasing the number of Section 8 housing vouchers, which are less expensive for the federal government to offer than subsidizing the building of new housing. These federally-funded vouchers guarantee that a tenant will pay no more than 30% of income on rent — the government makes up the difference between that amount and a market rent.
They earn fees for steering a project to completion that are capped at 15% of construction costs or $2.5 million, although exceptions for very large projects could drive fees to more than $6 million, state officials said. The largest known tax credit property transaction took place in 2021 between two of these big companies. The insurance giant American International Group sold a portfolio of 80,000 tax credit-financed apartments it had assembled in California and other states to Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust for nearly $5 billion.Another sizable chunk goes to a large supporting cast
There are also specialized accounting firms that help developers and investors navigate complicated tax codes. Finally, there are the professional organizations and lobbyists whose job it is to maintain the strong bipartisan congressional support the tax credit program has always enjoyed.