CDFA mourns the passing of Bob Miserez. Bob helped structure financings for infrastructure and economic development projects throughout Missouri, and his fingerprints are on projects ranging from small-town water towers and sidewalks to private company expansions to large-scale Union Station in Kansas City and Ballpark Village in St. Louis. Bob's guiding principle was to "do the right thing for the right reasons."

Nonprofit developers Linc Housing and National Community Renaissance are partnering to build an affordable housing development with a ground-floor health clinic in the San Pedro community of Los Angeles. The land for the $50.4 million community was donated by the City of Los Angeles. Other funding sources include HOME funds, LIHTC equity, a construction loan, and a permanent loan by the California Community Reinvestment Corp.

The COVID-19 crisis has put thousands of small businesses, from high-growth startups to Main Street employers, out of business. Importantly, the economic impacts of COVID-19 have not been equal. Minority-owned businesses and very small businesses are disproportionately concentrated in the industries most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis such as restaurants, retail stores, and personal services.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Announcement 2021-10 confirming that the boundaries of designated qualified opportunity zones (OZs), established at the time they were designated, are unaffected by 2020 decennial census changes and not subject to change.

Community lenders will soon have the opportunity to help deploy funding from a revived federal program to the small businesses that need it. Changes to the newly reauthorized State Small Business Credit Initiative include funding targeted to businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

Even amid economic turmoil, tax-exempt bond financing fared well in 2020. New legislation and a recovering economy promise to keep the momentum going. Boston Capital Finance executives recently shared their insight on how the events of the past year—including December 2020 legislation that established a minimum 4% low-income housing tax credit rate—will affect bond financing.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program, which will provide $350 billion in emergency funds to eligible entities including state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. Eligible entities may use Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to stabilize revenue downturns and address budget shortfalls.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced the allocation of $5 billion in American Rescue Plan funds for emergency housing vouchers for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. The supplemental funding is allocated through the Emergency Housing Voucher program. Through this program, HUD is providing 70,000 housing choice vouchers to local public housing authorities.

The County of Monterey is seeking to fill the newly created position of Economic Development Manager. As a member of the County Administrative Office, this manager will lead the Economic Development Management team.

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This announcement from the IRS confirms that the boundaries of the Designated QOZs were established at the time they were designated and are not subject to change because of the 2020 Census.

A new report from economists at the University of California Berkeley provides the first real evidence of OZ investment captured in 2019. Approximately $18.9 billion of aggregate OZ investments occurred that year representing nearly 2,500 investments. The authors estimate that 1,362 zones (roughly 16%) received investment and every state saw some form of investment.

This blog post from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis discusses changes to the newly reauthorized State Small Business Credit Initiative, including funding targeted to businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

This table identifies the funds allocated to states, territories, and the District of Columbia pursuant to the American Rescue Plan's 2021 updates to the State Small Business Credit Initiative. The table has been updated to provide additional details about Employment-Based Allocations and Very Small Business Allocations.

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