New Markets Tax Credit 2012 Eligibility Data
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) application eligibility data for 2012 is now up on PolicyMap. That means you can use PolicyMap to look up eligibility status and all sorts of severe distress criteria for your NMTC application
There were some significant changes to the data this year that make this update particularly important. This year, eligibility criteria, as well as certain severe distress criteria, use poverty, median income, and unemployment data from the Census’s 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS). In years past, the data has come from the 2000 Census. Not only is the data new, but the Census tract boundaries at which the data is displayed are new as well. The old data was displayed at 2000 Census boundaries; the new data is at 2010 boundaries. This means that the Census tract your project is in could be in a different tract today than it was last year. We’ve seen many tracts that were eligible in the previous year no longer eligible and vice versa. All CDEs applying for NMTC allocation in 2012 must use these new criteria data and boundaries
On PolicyMap, you can access this new data in the Federal Guidelines data tab, under CDFI Fund New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Data, and Eligible Tracts. You’ll see that a submenu comes out giving you the option of selecting data for the 2012 application or the 2011 application. These, and other NMTC indicators, are separated in the menu to make it clear that these use two different sets of boundaries, and are distinctly different from each other. We will continue to make the 2011 application data available because QLICIs closed between May 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, can use either set of data for determining Low-Income Community (LIC) eligibility
One complication of these new boundaries is that certain secondary severely distressed criteria (numbers 4- 15 in question 24 of the application) are available only at the old 2000 boundaries. This is because they come from other government sources that haven’t yet switched over to the new ACS data. In the past, we’ve had a data layer showing whether an area was severely distressed under the secondary criteria, meaning it qualified for two or more of these criteria. We also had an indicator showing whether an area was severely distressed under either criteria. Because it’s impossible to show these two sets of boundaries as one data layer, these layers are no longer available. However, you can still open data layers for the individual criteria (such as Medically Underserved Areas or HFFI Food Deserts) to see your area’s qualifications. Additionally, we have a layer showing whether an area qualifies for any severely distressed primary criteria, which are all at the new 2010 boundaries
Our NMTC application eligibility data is available on our website, and also on various widgets, such as at the Novogradac website. If you’d like the widget available on your website, just contact us
More information about the changes to the NMTC application eligibility criteria can be found at the CDFI’s website. The FAQ document at that site makes for particularly informative reading