The Delaware State Housing Authority announces preliminary low-income housing tax credit allocations to help build and preserve affordable housing in Delaware.
Four development projects will receive a total of over three million dollars to build 105 affordable units and preserve 116 existing affordable units.
The projects include the Village of Francis and Clare in Wilmington which is the first high-rise to receive these credits. It will be a senior living site providing 51 new units.
Another project is Georgetown Apartments I, which will preserve existing rental subsidy contracts involving 76 units.
The other projects receiving funding are the Willows at Northstar in Lewes with 46 new units and Mispillion Station III in Milford - preserving 40 units.
"It is important for us as we expand as we look to expand as much as we can the affordable rental housing stock in Delaware, if we lose units of affordable rental housing, that just means that we're replacing with new, and so it's really important for us to preserve existing stock while expanding the resource with new construction," said DSHA Director Matt Heckles.
Heckles notes preserving units typically involves renovation that modernized units and gets them up to current standards.
Heckles says they use a variety of criteria to select projects.
"We not only look at the type of housing that's being created, but also the amenities, where it's going to be located,” said Heckles. “We look at income distribution and rental subsidy support that will result in the allocation of these tax credits."
The developers can claim tax credits over 10 years, allowing them to balance the costs incurred during rental development.
All buildings financed through the tax credit allocations have to remain affordable and in compliance with other program policies for at least 30 years.
