As a part of CMT’s advocacy work, the organization works closely with developers on possible TOD opportunities in the St. Louis region and across the state. There is now an opportunity to weigh in on the scoring side of the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) criteria in order to ensure TOD projects can be prioritized.
The MHDC utilizes project scoring criteria through the annual development of a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) to select projects that will receive Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) throughout Missouri. MHDC’s scoring criteria for the LIHTC Program does not currently include any direct points for access to public transit or transit-oriented development, event as many of these developments are meant to be workforce housing, where transit access is of primary importance. The current project ranking environment is holding back the growth of transit-oriented communities in the St. Louis region and throughout the state.
MHDC and other state Housing Finance Agencies have wide latitude in setting their funding priorities and scoring/project ranking criteria through the establishment of a Qualified Action Plan. Several states (IL, CO, OH, MD, GA, CT, AZ, MN, IN, VA, PA) have direct points credited for access to public transit and transit-oriented development.
MHDC released their draft QAP for 2023 Tax Credits on Tuesday, May 16, with public comments due by this Friday, May 19 at 12:00 pm. While such a short window for public comment makes it difficult for stakeholders to provide feedback, we are asking CMT members to submit your comments by noon on Friday if you are interested in encouraging MHDC to include points for access to public transit and transit-oriented development in their project scoring criteria going forward. Your feedback can be as simple as one or two sentences. The more comments, however, the better to improving the possibility of elevating the status of developments near transit.
Please send your comments to 2023QAP@mhdc.com by 12:00 pm Central Time on Friday, May 19, 2023. All comments must be sent within the body of an email or within a word document.