Public Housing
Projects Developed With Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Differ From Traditional Public Housing Development Projects Gao ID: T-RCED-93-54 June 17, 1993Because of declining federal funding, the number of housing units added to the nation's public housing stock fell dramatically, from about 30,000 in 1981 to less than 3,000 a decade later. Some public housing authorities, responding to the unmet housing needs of low-income households, have begun using the tax credit program as a way to raise money to build more public housing. This testimony compares the low-income housing tax credit program and the public housing program in terms of (1) tenant and project characteristics, (2) costs to the federal government, and (3) public housing administrations' experiences with developing each type of project.