New Report on Federal Investment Tax Credit Shows Remarkable Job creation statistics

The Historic Tax Credit Coalition commissioned a report from Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy on the impact of the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program from its inception in 1976 till today. The National Trust’s Community Investment Corporation provided research support along with the National Council of State Historic Preservation Offices.

This is a ground breaking report that any preservationist should read, and is the first comprehensive review of the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit.

The National Trust blogged about this report  here . If you want to read the entire report download it here.

Several of the findings are very interesting to me.

According to the report “This $85 billion in rehabilitation activity has generated about 1.8 million new jobs (measured in job years) – 58,000 jobs in 2008 alone. These jobs have been concentrated in the construction, manufacturing, service, and retail sectors.”  This is good news for everyone in the preservation industry as the country is crying for new and higher paying jobs.  Construction and manufacturing jobs are likely to be higher paying than those in the retail sector.

Another tidbit  from the report “The economic impacts of the Federal Historic Tax Credit are highly targeted to the areas that need it most. Since 2002, National Park Service statistics have indicated that about two-thirds of all Federal Historic Tax Credit projects have been located in Qualified Low-Income Census Tracts.”   This may explain the successes of the New Markets Tax Credit and how they are combined with the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit.  Making preservation a vital tool for low income areas has been a long sought goal of the preservation movement, and since 2002, federal rehab activity has been concentrated in low income census tracts.

Another major piece of information is “NPS statistical reports document that the states with the strongest State Historic Tax Credit statutes regularly lead the nation in the use of the federal HTC.” This bodes well for any state wishing to enact a statewide rehabilitation tax credit effort, because the data is clear, that they will see more qualified rehabilitation work done because developers are rewarded with multiple credits and tax deductions.

One of the major aspects of the report is a thorough review of the impediments in the current ITC legislation that prevent its full utilization. Two bills in Congress aim to fix these HR 3715 and S 1743.

I will be reading more of this report this week, and hope to post other interesting facts contained in it here.  Please read the report and blog about it too.

The photo is of the Budd Building in Burlington NJ which was rehabilitated by Pennrose Properties using the Investment Tax Credit combined with the Low Income Tax Credit. This photo came from a report to be released soon that I wrote for Preservation New Jersey about historic buildings being used for low income housing to meet NJ Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) guidelines in the state.

Alas, New Jersey is one of the 20 states in the country that lacks a State Tax Credit program. Preservation New Jersey has been actively at work on such a program for years and is especially hopeful that the Christie Administration might be more interested in establishing one for the state.   The new Rutger’s Report should add more weight to the economic arguments that PNJ has been making for years for this legislation.