More Affordable Housing, But Where, and for Whom?

Brian N. Biglin, Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Abstract

The Low Income Housing Tax Creit (LIHTC) is the largest subsidy for the development of affordable housing. This paper explains what developments are eligible for it, how it has been used, and its interaction with other legal frameworks. Most notably, this paper will show that the LIHTC has subsidized developments in poor areas of inner cities that generally house poor people almost exclusively, rather than mixing affordable housing with market-rate housing. This paper will show that the concentration of the LIHTC in inner cities is at odds with mandates such as New Jersey's Mount Laurel duty to develop affordable housing in all municipalities, and that this has caused some criticisms. It will argue, however, that the LIHTC should not be used to accomplish such aims, but that it should be administered in a way that ensures that a greater proportion of subsidized developments are socioeconomically diverse.

This paper proudly pays homage to the late Rutgers Law Professor John Payne, one of the original framers of New Jersey's Mount Laurel mandate.