LeadingAge has joined several other national organizations as well as members Preservation of Affordable Housing, Human Good, Transforming Age, and Mercy Housing, in an Amicus Brief supporting the dismissal of an appeal to an August 2021 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that upheld certain policies of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission meant to protect nonprofit ownership of low income housing tax credit properties after the tax credit’s 15 year compliance period.

After educating stakeholders of the threat to low income housing tax credit properties from aggressive investors in a 2019 report, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, the state’s housing tax credit allocating agency, made changes to its transfer policies to protect housing credit communities from being over-taken by such investors, who then sued the Commission and whose suit was dismissed. Now, the aggressive investors have appealed and LeadingAge is stating our support for the Court’s initial dismissal as well as the Washington State Housing Finance Commission’s transfer policy changes by joining the Amicus Brief.

Read more about the 2019 report here.

LeadingAge continues to seek statutory solutions to this problem, which more and more state housing finance agencies are addressing at the state-level but continues to vex nonprofit owners of low income housing tax credit communities.

See LeadingAge’s “10 red flags” document to educated nonprofit owners on this issue.