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Menominee receives two LIHTC awards

The Menominee Tribal Housing Department (MTHD) of Keshena, Wis., recently received two awards of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA): $426,138 for its seventh LIHTC project and $444,701 for its eighth project. MTHD will use these awards to rehabilitate a total of 48 affordable homes in Keshena and Neopit. More than $5.9 million is expected to be raised for the projects when the tax credits are sold to an investor.

”The Menominee Tribe is extremely gratified to be working once again with WHEDA to rehab homes,” said Betty Jo Wozniak, executive director of MTHD. “Given that current federal funding under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act is inadequate for this purpose and that cuts in future funding have been proposed, our ability to address the long standing needs of substandard housing on the Menominee Reservation is heavily reliant on our ability to attract other resources. With the help of our partners, we can continue to work to raise our standard of living and provide safe, energy efficient housing for our tribal members.”

Travois, Inc., a housing and economic development consulting firm that works with American Indian tribes and is based in Kansas City, Mo., provided consulting services for the two applications and has worked with Menominee on its six previous LIHTC projects.

“The Menominee Tribal Housing Department has become one of the most experienced LIHTC developers in Indian Country,” said Lorna Fogg, president of Travois. “We are thrilled that they will be able to improve housing conditions for families on the Menominee Indian Reservation.”

For its seventh LIHTC project, the Menominee Tribal Housing Department will rehabilitate 23 single-family homes in Keshena and one in Neopit. For its eighth project, MTHD will rehabilitate 24 single-family homes, all located in Keshena. Construction on both projects is expected to be completed by November 2012.

Both projects consist of a mix of three-, four- and five-bedrooms, ranging from 1,260 square feet to 1,536 square feet. Amenities in the two projects will be identical. Interior amenities include a range/oven, microwave, refrigerator, mini-blinds and high efficiency woodstoves. A front porch, an exterior storage shed and metal roofs will also be provided. All homes will be affordable to households with incomes less than or equal to 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI).

Five units in each project, or a total of ten homes, will feature universal design features, such as accessible switch heights, roll-in showers and exterior doors with delayed closures, to help tenants with physical disabilities.

About the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program was developed by Congress is 1986, and its regulations are provided for in Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code. It was created to encourage private investment in the construction or rehabilitation of housing for low-income families. The IRS makes tax credits available to each state, and the states are responsible for developing Qualified Allocation Plans (QAPs) and determining which projects receive awards. Investors are interested in buying tax credits to reduce the amount of taxes they owe the federal government. Tax credits offset taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis for a 10-year period. Tribes can raise the equity they need for building projects through the LIHTC program, which lowers the amount a tribe will need to contribute to the project. It does not need to repay this equity but must follow all regulations for the 15-year compliance period.

About Travois
Travois, Inc. is the leading housing and economic development consulting firm in Indian Country. Since 1995, Travois has brought $350 million in private equity capital to Indian Country, which has helped build or rehabilitate more than 3,500 homes through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, and has raised more than $40 million to support tribal commercial ventures through the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. Travois New Markets received an $80 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits in 2009, which it is working to invest in qualified projects. The Travois family of companies offers housing and economic development assistance, compliance support, design services and comprehensive training to the nation’s American Indian population with clients from Alaska to Maine.