The Mississippi Home Corporation was founded in 1988 to provide a central hub for Mississippians to access when looking for housing. The Corporation focuses on lower income subsets of the population. The MHC receives funding from private groups to lead in purchase, development, and maintenance of public housing facilities throughout the state. No state funds are used in the course of this operation, although it is overseen by members of the state legislature.
The Housing Tax Credit (HTC) is a credit or reduction in tax liability each year for 10 years for owners and investors in affordable-income rental housing that is based on the costs of development and the number of qualified affordable-income units. The tax credit rate is approximately 4 percent for acquisition costs and 9 percent for rehabilitation and new construction costs, but only 4 percent if a development has federal subsidies or tax-exempt financing. The actual credit rate is based on prevailing Treasury interest rates to provide a "present value" of 30 percent and 70 percent respectively over 10 years. The acquisition credit can only be earned if there is a minimum amount of rehabilitation spending and, with certain exceptions, if ownership has not changed in the previous ten years.
