"OHFA wants one PDF with eighteen bookmarked tabs, a self-score I calculate myself, and a $2,000 wire transfer -- all before 3:00 p.m. on a specific Thursday -- what actually has to be true about my Development before I start assembling that file?"
Two funding periods a year for 9% Credits; a rolling, 60-day-minimum calendar for 4%/Bonds
| Track | Submission deadline | Board consideration | Preliminary / Final Review Report targets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9% Funding Period One | 3:00 p.m. CST, Thursday, January 22, 2026 | May Board of Trustees meeting | ≈March 31 / ≈April 30 |
| 9% Funding Period Two | 3:00 p.m. CST, Thursday, June 25, 2026 | November Board of Trustees meeting | ≈September 15 / ≈October 31 |
| 4% Credits & Multifamily Bonds | Rolling -- accepted any time; must be in by the Second Funding Period deadline to guarantee current-year consideration | Trustees meeting at least 60 days after submission | Not applicable -- reviewed outside the competitive scoring process |
OHFA reserves the right to alter either 9% deadline for extenuating circumstances, with notice by email, website, and social media.
A 9% Application costs a flat $2,000 fee, due by the same 3:00 p.m. deadline and payable only by wire transfer. A 4% Credits/Bond Application additionally requires a $1,000 Inducement Fee before OHFA will issue an Inducement Resolution. To actually receive an allocation of bond volume cap, a Development must clear three sequential steps: an Inducement Resolution, an Award of 4% Credits, and a Final Bond Resolution -- and the QAP is explicit that "an Inducement Resolution and a Final Bond Resolution cannot be approved for any single Development at the same meeting," even though an Award of 4% Credits and a Final Bond Resolution can be. After OHFA's Board issues the Final Bond Resolution, the Development still has to be independently reviewed and approved by the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight before any bond volume cap is actually committed.
A QCT/DDA-sited 4% Application carries its own federal clock, separate from OHFA's process: if the site's QCT or DDA designation is not renewed on a subsequent HUD list, the multifamily bonds must be issued within 730 days of a "complete application" -- which OHFA, beginning in 2025, defines as either the date the Multifamily Bond Application is submitted or the date the Board awards the 4% Credits, whichever the Applicant designates. Missing that 730-day window forfeits eligibility for the 130% basis boost, independent of whatever happens with the separate 18-month bond-closing deadline covered in Phase 9.
Threshold Criteria: ten gates that determine whether the self-score even matters
| # | Criterion | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Market Analysis | Third-party independent market study meeting Attachment B's content requirements |
| 2 | Nonprofit Owners | For the Nonprofit Set-Aside only -- IRS 501(c)(3)/(4) certification, >50% GP/managing-member interest, 1+ year of affordable-housing development experience |
| 3 | Capacity and Prior Performance | Development Team experience tiers, "New to Oklahoma" caps, and a documented non-performance history check |
| 4 | Waiver of Qualified Contract | Owner waives the Qualified Contract right; Development stays affordable a minimum of 30 years instead of 15 |
| 5 | Acquisition Credits | Independent legal opinion confirming the 10-year acquisition look-back and Code § 42(d)(2)(B) requirements, where applicable |
| 6 | Financial Feasibility and Viability | 100% of construction and permanent financing firmly committed, per Attachment C underwriting standards |
| 7 | Readiness to Proceed | Site control, zoning documentation, and preliminary plans in hand |
| 8 | Certifications | Section 42 leasing language, cost/expense separation, and Fair Housing/ADA certifications |
| 9 | Fair Housing Training | 4+ hours of Fair Housing Accessibility, Design, and Construction training for one representative each of the Developer, architect, and general contractor |
| 10 | Capital Needs Assessment | Required documentation for acquisition/rehabilitation Developments |
"Failure to meet all applicable Threshold Criteria in the initial submission of an Application may result in the Application being rejected without further review."
Capacity and Prior Performance carries the most structure. "New to Oklahoma" is defined narrowly: an Owner, GP/managing member, Developer, or principal remains "New to Oklahoma" until Tax Credits have been awarded, 8609s issued, and OHFA Compliance Staff has conducted its first visit on that Development -- and while New to Oklahoma, that party may submit no more than two Applications and be awarded no more than one Development. Three narrow exceptions unlock a second award (out-of-state LIHTC experience, partnering with an experienced GP/managing member/Developer, or -- for 4% Bond deals only -- closing the first Development's bonds and starting construction), and a tiered ladder unlocks further Developments for parties with out-of-state experience: a third Development requires 8609s issued for 10 Developments placed in service within the prior five years; a fourth requires 15; a fifth requires 20.
Even a party with a long Oklahoma track record is capped: no more than five open 9% AHTC Developments at once ("open" meaning from Tax Credit award through the last Building's Placed-In-Service date), unless all of them are phases of a single multi-phase Development in the same city or town, in which case a Principal may have only three such multi-phase Developments open at once. Development Team Experience threshold requires the General Partner/Managing Member (or its principals) to have experience in five or more successful LIHTC Developments -- or, lacking that, to borrow experience one-for-one from an attorney, consultant, Developer, general contractor, tax professional, lender, syndicator, or architect who individually has five or more successful Developments. A GP with two successful Oklahoma Developments needs three separately-qualified team members meeting that threshold to close the gap, not one. Management Experience requires a management company (alone or with a co-manager/consultant) with five or more successful LIHTC Developments under management, formed at least three years before Application, operating at least three years, having completed at least one lease-up, and OREC-licensed (or exempt) through the Extended Use Period.
Financial Feasibility and Viability requires firm commitments covering 100% of both construction and permanent financing at Application, with all permanent commitments carrying a fixed interest rate locked at the time of Application (or, absent a locked rate, documentation of a rate ceiling that OHFA will underwrite to instead). Commitment letters may condition funding on OHFA's approval of the Application and the lender's own final underwriting -- but no other contingency is permitted. Syndicator commitment letters must state the price per credit in cents on the dollar, the number of pay-ins, the percentage of partnership, and construction-period availability, for both federal and state Tax Credits.
The self-scored Selection Criteria -- and the two factors nobody can calculate before submitting
| Criterion | Points possible | Who calculates it |
|---|---|---|
| Income Targeting | 5 | Applicant self-score |
| Term of Affordability / Tenant Ownership | 10 | Applicant self-score |
| Development Location | 10 | Applicant self-score |
| Tenant Targeted Populations | 8 | Applicant self-score |
| Tenant Populations of Individuals with Children | 3 | Applicant self-score |
| Preservation of Affordable Housing | 3 | Applicant self-score |
| Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (HERS) | 10 | Applicant self-score, verified post-construction |
| Historic Nature | 3 | Applicant self-score |
| Development Amenities | 10 | Applicant self-score |
| Development Cost Efficiency | 29 | OHFA Staff -- percentile-ranked across all Applications in the Funding Period |
| Negative Points | -20 (maximum deduction) | OHFA Staff, from the posted negative-points list |
9% Applicants separately compete for State Tax Credits (up to 12 points, also staff-calculated by percentile rank) -- a distinct preference system layered on top of the Selection Criteria score, applied within four ownership-preference categories.
Development Cost Efficiency is the single largest scoring category and the clearest example of a score an Applicant cannot know in advance. It is built from four factors -- Lowest Credits per Unit (8 points), Lowest Credits per Bedroom (8 points), Lowest Percentage of Hard Debt (8 points), and Most Square Feet per Bedroom (5 points) -- each percentage-ranked against every other Application submitted in the same competitive Funding Period. The QAP gives its own example: a Result of $4,000 in Credits per Unit that ranks at the 95th percentile earns 95% of that factor's 8 points, or 7.600 points, rounded to four decimal places. "An Applicant will not know their score for this specific criteria before they submit their application"; the score first appears in the Preliminary Review Report. Once given, results for the first three factors "may not go up" and the fourth "may not go down" at Final Application -- an unfavorable change bars the Owner/Developer and any Principals from submitting an AHTC Application for the next two Funding Periods. The State Tax Credit preference ranking (up to 12 points, based on Lowest State Tax Credits per Unit and per Bedroom) works the same way and carries the same two-funding-period penalty for an unfavorable change.
Assembly mechanics: one bookmarked PDF, a Dropbox link that expires at the deadline
Attachment F lays out an eight-step electronic submission process. Applicants request a Dropbox folder by emailing an OHFA Allocation Analyst (named for the Development, city, and Developer); the Analyst replies with a folder-specific link; the $2,000 Application fee (plus an $8.00 OHFA wire fee) must be transferred by the deadline, with the wire receipt included in the Application; the entire Application is assembled as one PDF with bookmarks and title pages for all eighteen tabs -- including tabs that are not applicable, which still need a title page marked N/A; the file is reviewed for legibility before upload; and, once uploaded, "you cannot edit or retrieve" the document -- a corrected file must be uploaded separately with "Revised" in the title, before the deadline passes.
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Application Form |
| 2 | Backup for Tab 1 items |
| 3 | Commitment Letters |
| 4 | Market Study |
| 5 | Nonprofit |
| 6 | Capacity |
| 7 | Acquisition |
| 8 | Readiness |
| 9 | Certifications |
| 10 | Fair Housing Training |
| 11 | Capital Needs Assessment |
| 12 | Self-score Certification |
| 13 | Location |
| 14 | Tenant Ownership |
| 15 | Preservation |
| 16 | HERS Certification |
| 17 | Amenities |
| 18 | Historic |
The stakes for a poor-quality file are explicit: "If a document is too small, or in any other way illegible, then Staff will not be able to evaluate information or count as submitted. This may cause you to Fail Threshold or not receive points." No blanks are permitted on the Application Form -- anything not applicable must say "N/A" rather than being left empty. After submission, Applicants receive an acknowledgment email; during review, OHFA renames the folder with a file number and, ahead of a three-day Open Records posting window, adds the Preliminary and Final Review Sheets to the same folder for public inspection.
Communication rules during review -- and what happens if OHFA can't get to every Application
Once an Application is submitted, "neither the Applicant nor any representative or Affiliate of the Applicant shall contact any OHFA employee, concerning the Application or any other Applications filed in the same Credit funding period" -- all clarification requests must run through the Preliminary and Final Review Report process, in writing, addressed to the Staff member named in the cover letter. Disputing a Preliminary Review Report requires identifying the specific disputed finding, citing applicable law, and attaching documentary evidence by the deadline in the cover letter; disputing a Final Review Report requires filing ten hard copies plus an electronic version at least 48 hours before the Trustees meeting (24 hours if the 48-hour mark falls on a federal holiday) -- missing either format voids the response. Communicating directly with the Trustees about a pending Application, outside the process set out in AHTC Chapter 36 Rules § 330:36-2-12, is likewise prohibited.
If OHFA receives more Applications in a Funding Period than it can fully review, it may decline to review any Application that "clearly fail[s] to meet one of the Threshold Criteria, or that clearly cannot achieve a sufficient score to be considered for funding," notifying the Applicant in writing -- with no refund of the $2,000 Application fee for a Development that never gets a complete review.
Where this goes wrong
- Assuming a late-afternoon Central-time deadline has any grace period. The Dropbox link expires at 3:00 p.m. and OHFA states plainly that no Applications will be accepted after that time.
- Leaving Application Form fields blank because they don't apply. The QAP requires "N/A" typed into anything that doesn't apply; a blank can be treated as an incomplete submission.
- Assuming "New to Oklahoma" status is only about being a first-time OHFA applicant. It is defined by 8609 issuance AND a completed first compliance visit, and it caps a new entrant at two Applications/one award until both have happened, regardless of experience elsewhere, unless a tiered LIHTC-experience exception applies.
- Assuming any single experienced consultant, syndicator, or lender on the team satisfies the Development Team Experience threshold on their own. One qualifying team member substitutes only one Development's worth of experience for a GP/managing member that itself lacks the five-Development threshold.
- Submitting financing commitment letters with contingencies beyond OHFA approval and the lender's own underwriting review. Any other contingency undermines the Financial Feasibility threshold requirement that 100% of financing be committed.
- Assuming the self-score sheet gives a complete picture of an Application's competitiveness before submission. The State Tax Credit preference ranking (up to 12 points) and Development Cost Efficiency (29 points, the largest single category) are both calculated by OHFA staff after the deadline by percentile-ranking every Application in that Funding Period, so neither can be known in advance.
- Assuming a Final Application can improve a percentile-ranked score. Results for the first three Development Cost Efficiency factors "may not go up" (the fourth may not go down) at Final Application; an unfavorable change locks the Owner/Developer and Principals out of applying for the next two Funding Periods.
- Uploading a scanned Application that is too small or otherwise illegible. OHFA states this may prevent Staff from evaluating the information at all, resulting in a Failed Threshold or lost points -- not just a request for a cleaner copy.
- Trying to edit or resubmit a document after uploading it to Dropbox. OHFA's system does not allow retrieval or editing after submission; a corrected file must be uploaded as a new document titled "Revised," before the deadline.
- Assuming a 4% Credits/Bonds Inducement Resolution and Final Bond Resolution can be approved at the same Trustees meeting for the same Development -- the QAP states they cannot.
- Assuming a 4% Credit award guarantees the bond volume cap. A Final Bond Resolution from OHFA still requires separate review and approval by the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight before bond volume cap is actually committed.
- Contacting an OHFA employee directly about a competing Application, or about your own Application outside the Preliminary/Final Review Report process. The QAP prohibits any Applicant, representative, or Affiliate from doing so.
- HUD
- LIHTC
- State QAPs
- IRS § 42
- Housing Finance Agencies