[combusean]

The mystery behind the Catherine Arms renovation on 4th Ave and Fillmore solved:

http://www.azcentral.com/business/re...edits0921.html

The housing projects began under a tax-credit program also funded by the federal government. Since the late 1980s, the government has offered tax credits for building low-income housing. In return, project backers have to keep rents below market rates for at least 15 years.

Many investors put money into the projects to take advantage of the tax break. Fannie Mae was one of the nation's biggest tax-credit investors before last year.

When financial markets collapsed last fall, many of those investors ran out of money or backed out of deals.

The new stimulus money, called the Tax Credit Assistance Program or TCAP, is a short-term fix to fill in financing gaps in these tax-credit projects. The Housing Department distributes the money to help complete projects closest to being ready.

"Without TCAP, we don't know when we could finish Catherine Arms, and we knew the need for it was growing," said Diana Yazzie Divine of Native American Connections. "Now, we plan to open by December."

Construction stopped last fall on Catherine Arms but restarted recently. Rents at the redevelopment project for Native Americans will start below $500 a month.

The [28 unit] project is receiving almost $528,000 from Arizona's TCAP funding to fill the gap in its tax credit financing left by investors who backed out of deals.

So far, 11 Arizona projects have received approval for TCAP funding. The Housing Department is working on contracts to give at least another 10 affordable housing developments TCAP funding.