The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) recently announced the 2015 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) award recipients. Two of our clients’ projects received awards — Pascua Yaqui Homes III received $625,332 and Yavapai-Apache Homes V received $870,954.
The Pascua Yaqui Homes III development will build 37 new units within the tribe’s Las Flores de Guadalupe Subdivision in Guadalupe, AZ. Guadalupe is about 100 miles from the Pascua Yaqui’s main reservation in Tucson, where the Pascua Yaqui Tribe has successfully developed four previous LIHTC projects, and these homes will be the tribe’s first LIHTC project to serve Guadalupe community members. (If Guadalupe sounds familiar, you may have heard of Itom Hiapsi, a one-stop shop for Tribal member and community services.)
With this latest LIHTC award, the project will construct a combination of five-plexes and duplex units and a new community building. Fifteen of the homes, or three buildings of five-plexes, will be set aside for elders, who will live in either one-bedroom or two-bedroom units. Families will occupy the remaining eleven duplexes, made up of 22 units that each have three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.
With the number three at the end of the project’s name, some may wonder how there is a project 4 and project 5. Well, that’s because the project originally submitted for an allocation of tax credits back in 2011 outside of the tribal set-aside (along with Pascua Yaqui Homes IV in the tribe set aside) but was not funded. The project was subsequently submitted again in 2012 and again in 2014 (both times outside of the tribal set-aside — pursuant to the requirements of ADOH’s QAP at the time) but was not funded. For 2015, however, ADOH modified the QAP’s definition of tribal land resulting in the town of Guadalupe being an eligible area (given federal public law) to compete within the tribal set-aside. And with this modification to the QAP, Pascua Yaqui Homes III was finally able to successfully compete and receive an allocation of credits!
Another veteran client, Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Housing (YANTH), received the good news that the Yavapai-Apache Homes V project can move forward and build 38 new units on the Yavapai-Apache Nation Reservation in Camp Verde, AZ. The project is a mix of single-family, duplex and triplex buildings and a new community building. The housing is targeted for families with children. The home designs will incorporate several green building techniques and include solar panels on each unit, which will offset 60 percent or more of the tenant family’s utility bill.
“The Yavapai Apache Nation is thrilled to have received an allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the ADOH this past month,” said Sharie Benson, YANTH executive director. “We have approximately 100 tribal families awaiting homes and this award will provide 38 of those families a place to call home. Without the LIHTC program, there is no way that these homes and this development would ever have come to fruition.”
We are excited for both projects and can’t wait to see the finished homes!