Program election (9% vs. 4% vs. hybrid) — Utah

One QAP, two federal credit tracks — and only one of them is actually scored

UHC's QAP is explicit that a tax-exempt-bond-financed project "will only receive an Allocation of Housing Credits outside of the Housing Credit Ceiling Amount," "does not compete with other projects for an Allocation of Housing Credits," and "is eligible for 4 percent Housing Credits only" (2027 QAP, General Requirements of Issuance, §E, p. 55). That structural fact does most of the work in answering "what am I electing between": a 9% Application is ranked against every other qualifying 9% Application in its Set-Aside Pool using UHC's Selection Criteria (Preference and Secondary Selection Criteria together total roughly 6,770 possible weighted points — see Phase 5), while a 4% bond Application is evaluated only against UHC's Underwriting Guidelines (Exhibit 4A) and a short, separate list of "4% Application Thresholds" (2027 QAP, p. 57) — development experience, a market-study rent discount, and Applicant good standing. There is no ranked competition among 4% Applications the way Georgia or several other states run a genuinely scored 4%/Bonds round.

Application and award limits on the 9% side: no single project may be awarded more than $2,500,000 in annual 9% Housing Credits; Applicants or Related Parties are limited to four open 9% projects at once (open from award until placed in service); and Developers, Sponsors, Owners, Applicants, and Related Parties are limited to two 9% awards per competitive round (except in the Government/Non-Profit Homeownership Set-Aside), with a combined $2,500,000 ceiling on annual 9% credit to any one such group per cycle (2027 QAP, Maximum Housing Credit Allocation §A, p. 32-33).

Who actually issues the bonds: UHC issues them, but a separate state board allocates the volume cap

UHC's QAP states plainly: "UHC is a qualified issuer of tax-exempt municipal bonds. UHC also may issue federally taxable bonds under certain circumstances. Neither the State of Utah nor any of its subdivisions is obligated to pay the bonds and neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the State of Utah or of any its subdivisions is pledged to the payment of the principal or redemption price of or interest on the bonds. UHC has no taxing power" (2027 QAP, Bonds Introduction, p. 51). UHC's bonds are non-recourse revenue bonds repaid solely from the financed project's own revenue — not a state obligation.

But the annual dollar amount of private-activity bond capacity available for UHC to actually issue against is not UHC's to decide. The QAP states: "The Allocation of the Cap for Utah is administered under the direction of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. The Private Activity Bond Review Board (PAB) (created by the legislature at Utah Code 63N-5-101, et seq.), employing the formulas established by state law, allocates the Cap to issuers who have requested Allocations for specific projects, facilities and programs" (2027 QAP, Bonds Introduction §A, p. 51). Multifamily rental housing shares a "Small Issue Bond Account" allotment with manufacturing facilities and Qualified Redevelopment Projects, with additional rental-housing amounts potentially available after July 1 each year if other accounts haven't been exhausted. In short: UHC is the issuer of record, but the PAB Review Board — a separate legislative body — is the gatekeeper on how much volume cap a given project can even request.

One niche wrinkle: units in a tax-exempt-bond-financed project that are not also claiming 4% Housing Credits are restricted only to a 140% AMI household income limit — "the rents, however, are not restricted" for those specific units (2027 QAP, General Requirements of Issuance §A, p. 51). That distinction matters for mixed bond/non-credit unit structures.

UHC's own issuer-fee schedule for bonds amortized 30+ years: a flat $25,000 for issues under $2.5 million; 0.875% (max $43,750) for $2.5-7.5 million; 0.75% (max $33,750) for $7.5-12 million; and 0.625% (amount varies) above $12 million — UHC gives a worked example of a $10,500,000 issue producing a $91,250 issuer fee. Costs of issuance financed from bond proceeds may not exceed 2% of those proceeds (2027 QAP, Bonds Introduction §G, p. 52).

The OBBBA 25%/50% federal bond test: UHC's own QAP text is silent — confirm current practice directly

Bond-financed 4% deals must independently satisfy the federal aggregate-basis test under IRC §42(h)(4)(B): historically at least 50% of a project's aggregate basis had to be tax-exempt-bond financed, and the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. 119-21, §70422(b)(1)) added a more favorable 25% alternative for bonds issued after December 31, 2025. A direct text search of the full extracted 2027 QAP (roughly 7,250 lines) turned up no reference at all to "aggregate basis," a "50 percent test," a "25 percent test," OBBBA, or Pub. L. 119-21. The only similarly-numbered test that does appear in the QAP is a completely different one: the Section 142 minimum-set-aside test for tax-exempt-bond eligibility (a project must still meet a 20-50 or 40-60 unit-mix test to qualify the bonds themselves under §142, separate from the §42(h)(4)(B) aggregate-basis financing percentage).

Unlike Georgia (which imposed its own tighter 30% administrative ceiling in its QAP text) or Illinois (whose Underwriting Standards Guide sets an internal 30% floor above the federal 25% minimum), this research could not locate any UHC-published document — QAP, Underwriting Guidelines exhibit, or bond term sheet — that states which federal percentage (the old 50%, the new 25% OBBBA alternative, or some UHC-specific number) governs a live Utah bond deal today. This should be treated as an open question, not an assumption either way: confirm the applicable percentage directly with UHC's Multifamily Finance staff and bond counsel before sizing bond volume cap on a 2026-2027 deal.

Utah's own state housing tax credit — a real, separately-capped $10 million/year lever

Utah does have a genuine state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, not a donation-based workaround like some states use. Utah Code §59-10-1010, "Utah low-income housing tax credit," authorizes UHC to issue allocation certificates directly to housing sponsors. The QAP states: "Beginning on January 1, 2023, Utah Code 59-10-1010 provides for the ability to award up to $10,000,000 of annual State Credits each year. State Credits are available to 4% and 9% projects. Projects are subject to a maximum State Credit award of $750,000 based on demonstrated need and ability to create more units, except Supportive Housing projects, which are eligible for an award up to $1,000,000" (2027 QAP, State of Utah Housing Credits, p. 77).

When 4% demand for state credit outstrips what UHC can award in a given round, UHC scores and ranks applications on an 80-point scale: up to 50 points for bringing in other financing sources priced below the current long-term Applicable Federal Rate (10 points per $1,000,000, rounded down); up to 20 points for Credit Efficiency (20 points if State Tax Credits per LIHTC bedroom are ≤$1,000, 10 points if $1,001-$2,500); and up to 10 points for Deferred Developer Fee (5 points at 25-49% deferred, 10 points at 50%). Awards are also capped at 3,000 State Tax Credits per LIHTC bedroom (2027 QAP, State of Utah Housing Credits, pp. 77-78).

The "hybrid" option in this Phase's title is literal in Utah: the QAP explicitly recognizes a combination structure — "A combination 9% and 4% 'twinned' project will be treated as two projects" for purposes of the $750,000 per-project state-credit limitation (2027 QAP, State of Utah Housing Credits, p. 77) — meaning a developer can genuinely phase a single overall development across both federal credit tracks and draw state credit against each phase independently, subject to each phase's own $750,000 ceiling.

A separate lever from the federal QCT/DDA boost: UHC's own Qualified Bonus Areas

Independent of the federal 130% Qualified Census Tract/Difficult Development Area basis boost, UHC — under authority from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 — designates its own "Qualified Bonus Areas" eligible for up to a 30% basis boost: projects within 1/3 mile of an existing, under-construction, or verified-to-be-built TRAX, FrontRunner, or S Line stop qualify as Transit Oriented Developments for up to a 30% boost, while tribal land qualifies for up to a 15% boost. All projects are capped at a maximum 30% total basis boost, a TOD-boosted project cannot stack the QCT/Area-of-Opportunity boost on top, and — notably — "tax-exempt bond projects are ineligible for a basis boost in a UHC qualified bonus area" at all (2027 QAP, Exhibit 4B, p. 112).