STATE LIHTC RESEARCH

New York
QAP scoring guide.

New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) — Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), Low-Income Housing Credit Program · 2025 (effective 6/11/2025) — currently governs the 2026 9% LIHTC allocation round QAP

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● Verified guideChecked Sep 12, 2026View source QAP ↗

THE POINT TABLE

Competitive scoring

17 categories

null — no publicly stated historical winning-score threshold was found in the QAP, RFP, or HCR Q&A documents reviewed.

Select a category to read its scoring criteria.

Community impact/revitalization

10 pts

Up to 5 pts for advancing a defined neighborhood 'Concerted Community Revitalization Plan' (walkability, historic character, multi-faceted revitalization, resident input, mixed-income); up to 2 pts for including non-residential space serving critical unmet community needs or resident-owned commercial space; up to 3 pts for clearly advancing a Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) strategic plan or other state-sponsored revitalization initiative.

Financial leveraging

10 pts

Scored on the extent other funding sources (excluding deferred developer fee) finance total development cost — e.g., non-HCR/HTFC permanent funding, donated land/buildings, nominal long-term leases, net syndication proceeds as a share of credit requested, and credit requested per unit adjusted for unit size.

Sponsor characteristics

11 pts

Scored on the development/management team's track record: timely completion of prior LIHTC projects within budget/scope; meeting or exceeding MBE/WBE/SDVOB participation goals on prior HCR-financed projects; and management of prior housing within approved operating budgets and in regulatory compliance.

Sustainability

5 pts

Scored on compliance with a green building strategy exceeding HCR's minimum Sustainability Guidelines baseline; per the 2025 RFP, up to 3 pts for meeting Stretch Sustainability Goals and up to 2 additional points for Stretch plus Additional Stretch Sustainability Measures.

Additional HCR accessible units

5 pts

Scored for providing accessible units beyond the mandatory threshold floor (5% mobility / 2% hearing-vision), paired with certified market demand and a written referral agreement with an experienced service organization. 2-point tier: ≥10% mobility-impairment (MI) units and ≥4% hearing/vision-impairment (HVI) units (min. 2 units each). 5-point tier: ≥15% MI and ≥6% HVI units (min. 3 units each).

Affordability

7 pts

Scored on the percentage of LIHTC units affordable and targeted to persons with the lowest incomes (e.g., 30%, 40%, or 50% AMI).

Individuals with children

5 pts

Scored on the ratio of bedrooms to units in a project serving households with children, where the project also qualifies for Well-Resourced-Area points or advances a neighborhood-specific revitalization plan/effort.

Project readiness

10 pts

Scored on the likelihood of the shortest possible time to construction closing, based on status of financing commitments and supporting measures such as infrastructure improvements, property tax relief, and rezoning.

Special housing needs and supportive housing

5 pts

Scored on designating LIHTC units for persons with special housing needs and/or persons in need of supportive housing. Tiered by share of units with a supportive-housing preference: 5 pts at ≥50% of units, 3 pts at ≥30%, 2 pts at ≥15%, 1 pt for a senior (55+/62+) aging-in-place plan.

Participation of non-profit organizations

4 pts

4 pts if a local non-profit (or wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary) with a housing mission serves as sole GP/managing member; 2 pts for a local non-profit with a substantive development/management role through the extended use period; 1 pt for a non-local non-profit with a substantive ownership/development/management role.

Mixed income

4 pts

Scored on the extent the project serves households earning above 60% AMI.

Historic nature of project

2 pts

1 pt for rehabilitating a historic building; 1 pt if the applicant will seek a federal historic rehabilitation tax credit for the project.

Cost effectiveness

5 pts

Points awarded based on a comparison of the project's costs against the costs proposed in other applications in the funding round.

Projects in well-resourced areas

5 pts

Scored for location in a census tract meeting socio-economic criteria (educational opportunity, low poverty), evaluated via HCR's Neighborhood Resource Index (NRI); 2025 WRA Housing Goal criteria require Tier 1 NRI, average unit size ≥2BR, and ≥10% of units at ≤30% AMI, and exclude age-restricted senior projects.

Transit-oriented development

2 pts

Scored on close proximity to public transportation for all project types.

Investment in underserved areas

5 pts

Scored on whether there is limited/no subsidized affordable housing production and unmet demand within the Primary Market Area over the past 10 years; requires a market-study map identifying existing regulated affordable housing built in the PMA in the last 10 years.

Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business participation

5 pts

Scored for an MBE and/or WBE holding a controlling/material (≥50.1%) ownership interest as project owner/sponsor/developer, and/or a development team including an MBE, WBE, or SDVOB.

Scoring source

9% LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plan, 9 NYCRR Part 2040, §2040.3(f) "Project scoring and ranking criteria" (QAP PDF, effective 6/11/2025, pp.19–24); restated with 2025-cycle scoring-mechanics detail in HCR Multifamily Finance 9% LIHTC RFP – 2025, Section III "Scoring" (pp.12–13) and Section IV "New 9% LIHTC QAP Threshold, Eligibility and Scoring Considerations" (pp.14–16); point totals also summarized in the 2025 9% LIHTC Term Sheet (p.2).

BEYOND THE SCORE

Development strategy

Explore the documented considerations behind a competitive application.

Front-load TA, weigh the supportive-housing set-aside

Engage HCR's technical-assistance track before the RFP deadline -- applicants that use it fare meaningfully better in the competition. Structuring at least 50% of a project's units as supportive housing qualifies it for HCR's separate supportive-housing/ESSHI set-aside pool, a real alternate path to the general 9% pool for projects that can genuinely serve that population.

Supportive Housing Network of NY -- Funding Guide: 9% LIHTC; NYS HCR Technical Assistance for 9% LIHTC RFP Applicants ↗

Pick HPD or HCR deliberately for a NYC site -- not by default

A New York City site can go through either agency for 9% credits: HCR (statewide, 17-item rubric, no mechanical tiebreaker -- broad discretionary override language only) or HPD, an independently-designated Local Housing Credit Agency with its own 23-item rubric, its own explicit mechanical tiebreaker, and its own supportive-housing vehicle ('15/15') distinct from ESSHI. The two agencies notify each other if the same proposal appears at both, so this is a real, exclusive choice to make deliberately, not a formality.

NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) -- 2026 Draft Qualified Allocation Plan ↗

Don't call it "Unified Funding" anymore

HCR's multifamily 9% process was branded "Unified Funding" from roughly 2012-2019, but that name is entirely absent from the current 2025 RFP and QAP text -- HCR now just calls it the "Multifamily Finance 9% LIHTC RFP." Using the old name with HCR staff or in an application narrative reads as working from stale information.

NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) -- 2025 Multifamily Finance 9% LIHTC RFP ↗

MODEL ASSUMPTIONS

Underwriting parameters

9% LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plan, 9 NYCRR Part 2040, §2040.3(g) "Determination of the amount for credit allocation" (developer fee, cost standards, syndication) — QAP PDF pp.25–29; and HCR Office of Finance & Development, Capital Programs Manual (August 2025), §5.05 "Project Costs" (pp.19–23 of 108, developer fee/reserve capitalization detail), §5.07 "Underwriting Standards" (pp.29–44 of 108, cash-flow policy, reserve contributions, escalation trending), and §5.08 "Subsidy Layering Review Process" (pp.45–50 of 108, DCR band and vacancy factor). Corroborated by HCR Multifamily Finance 9% LIHTC RFP – 2025, Questions & Answers #2 and #3 (Underwriting).

OPERATING ASSUMPTIONS

Utility allowance

Preferred method: local_pha

HCR/HFA Annual Utility Allowance Notification (PHA-schedule adoption bulletin); for NYC specifically, NYCHA's Voucher Payment Standards (VPS) & Utility Allowance Schedule ↗

9 NYCRR § 2040.7(e)(13) (QAP recordkeeping clause only — no UA methodology prescribed there); HCR/HFA Asset Management "Utility Allowance" annual notification, eff. 1/1/2026, implementing Treas. Reg. § 1.42-10

YOUR NEXT STEPS

Development guides for New York

PHASE 1Site sourcing and screening PHASE 2Site control and due diligence PHASE 3Entitlement pathway election PHASE 4DHCR's 9% round vs. HFA's 4% bond process PHASE 5Rents, income limits, and the operating pro forma HCR underwrites to PHASE 6Construction type, prevailing wage, and the sustainability trade-off PHASE 7Capital stack and soft money PHASE 8Application assembly and submission PHASE 9The post-award readiness clock PHASE 10Construction through placed-in-service PHASE 11Compliance monitoring through a 50-year regulatory term

Use the LIHTC feasibility checklist →