The language of LIHTC renovation, in plain English. Every term below shapes how an occupied affordable housing project gets financed, scheduled, and delivered.
Affordable housing renovation runs on a specialized vocabulary — tax credits, prevailing wage rules, occupancy protocols, and hard federal deadlines. This glossary defines the terms developers and owners encounter most, the way ICON National uses them on real projects.
The federal program that funds most affordable housing in the U.S. Created under Section 42 of the tax code, it gives investors a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal taxes in exchange for financing income-restricted housing. Nearly every project ICON renovates is a LIHTC deal.
Related: 9% Credit, 4% Credit, Section 42, Allocating Agency
The larger LIHTC subsidy, awarded competitively through each state’s annual allocation round. It covers roughly 70% of eligible costs and typically funds deeper, more substantial rehabilitations. Demand far exceeds supply, so 9% deals carry tight underwriting and heavy compliance scrutiny.
Related: 4% Credit, QAP, Eligible Basis
The smaller LIHTC subsidy, available as-of-right (non-competitive) when a project is financed with tax-exempt bonds covering at least half of its costs. It covers roughly 30% of eligible costs and is the workhorse of large-scale preservation and recapitalization deals.
Related: Tax-Exempt Bonds, Resyndication
Municipal bonds issued to finance affordable housing at below-market interest. When bonds fund at least 50% of a project’s aggregate basis, they automatically trigger 4% credits — which is why bonds and the 4% credit almost always travel together.
Related: 4% Credit, Eligible Basis
The state body that awards tax credits, sets the rules, and monitors compliance for the life of the deal. Every state has one, each with its own priorities. Coordinating with the agency is a core part of keeping a renovation on schedule and on credit.
Related: QAP, Placed-in-Service
The rulebook each state publishes annually, defining how it scores and awards 9% credits. The QAP dictates everything from set-asides to design standards, so it shapes a project’s scope before construction ever begins.
Related: 9% Credit, Allocating Agency
The date by which a building must be ready for occupancy for its credits to be claimed. Miss it, and the tax credits can be delayed or lost outright. This single date is why schedule discipline matters more on affordable housing than almost any other kind of construction.
Related: Cost Certification, Phasing
The portion of development and renovation costs that qualifies for tax credits. What counts — and what doesn’t — directly determines how much credit a project generates, which makes accurate scoping and cost tracking a financial issue, not just a construction one.
Related: Cost Certification, 9% Credit
The final, audited accounting of what a project actually cost, submitted to the agency to lock in the final credit amount. Clean, well-documented cost records throughout construction make this step smooth instead of painful.
Related: Eligible Basis, Closeout
Refinancing an existing affordable property with a fresh round of tax credits to fund major renovation and extend affordability. Most occupied renovations are resyndications — aging properties getting a second life without losing their affordable status.
Related: 4% Credit, Occupied Renovation
Renovating apartments while residents still live in them — ICON’s specialty. It demands careful sequencing, constant communication, and dust, noise, and safety controls that vacant-building renovation never has to think about. Done right, residents barely leave home.
Related: Phasing, Temporary Relocation, Resident Disruption
Breaking a property into groups of units renovated in sequence rather than all at once. Phasing is what makes occupied renovation possible — residents move out of a small batch of units, those units are completed, and everyone rotates through in turn.
Related: Occupied Renovation, Unit Turn, Placed-in-Service
Moving residents into on-site or nearby units for the days or weeks their home is being renovated, then moving them back. Managed carefully, it protects residents from real hardship — ICON has relocated more than 25,000 families and seniors without incident.
Related: Occupied Renovation, Resident Disruption
The everyday impact of construction on people who live on-site — noise, dust, loss of access, schedule uncertainty. Minimizing it is a design goal from day one, not an afterthought, because the residents are the whole reason the work is being done.
Related: Occupied Renovation, Temporary Relocation
A single affordable housing project spread across many separate buildings or addresses rather than one complex. Scattered-site renovation multiplies the logistics — every location is its own mini-jobsite — and rewards contractors with strong coordination systems.
Related: Phasing, Occupied Renovation
The full cycle of taking one occupied unit, renovating it, and returning it move-in ready. Turn time is the heartbeat of an occupied project: the faster and more predictable each turn, the less time residents spend displaced and the tighter the overall schedule.
Related: Phasing, Punch List
The section of the federal tax code that governs the LIHTC program — the legal foundation for how credits are earned, claimed, and kept. When people say a deal is “Section 42,” they mean it runs by LIHTC rules.
Related: LIHTC, Compliance Period
The overlapping accessibility rules affordable housing must meet — covering everything from door widths to bathroom clearances to a required percentage of fully accessible units. Renovations are often where a property is finally brought into full compliance.
Related: Scope of Work, PNA
The years a property must stay affordable and rule-compliant to keep its credits — a 15-year federal minimum, usually extended to 30 years or more. Renovation typically happens when a property reaches the point where reinvestment resets the clock.
Related: Section 42, Resyndication
The planning phase before a shovel moves — site walks, budgeting, scope development, and schedule modeling, ideally with the contractor at the table early. On affordable deals, strong preconstruction is where tax credits are protected and surprises are designed out.
Related: PNA, Scope of Work, Eligible Basis
A professional inspection cataloging a property’s condition and what it needs, now and over the next 20 years. The PNA (also called a Capital Needs Assessment) is the starting point for defining a renovation’s scope and budget.
Related: Preconstruction, Scope of Work
The detailed definition of exactly what will be renovated, from unit interiors to building systems to site work. On credit deals the scope has to balance resident impact, budget, and what costs are eligible for credit — a three-way puzzle solved in preconstruction.
Related: Preconstruction, Eligible Basis
The running list of final details to complete or correct before a unit or building is signed off. A disciplined punch process is what turns “almost done” into 100% complete — and keeps unit turns and the overall schedule honest.
The formal wrap-up of a project: final inspections, documentation, warranties, and the cost records that feed cost certification. Clean closeout protects the owner and the credits long after the crews are gone.
Related: Cost Certification, Punch List
A guarantee from a surety company that the contractor will finish the job and pay its subcontractors. Bonding capacity is a measure of a contractor’s financial strength — ICON is endorsed by Travelers with $75M per-project and $500M aggregate capacity.
Related: General Contractor
The firm responsible for delivering the construction — managing subcontractors, schedule, budget, safety, and quality. On affordable housing, the right GC also fluently navigates the finance and compliance layer, not just the building.
Related: Preconstruction, Surety
ICON National renovates occupied affordable housing across 15 states — protecting your credits, your schedule, and your residents. Let’s talk through your project.