Now more than ever, we find the only sure way out of institutional poverty is through home ownership, the building of equity within the existing free market system. The New Markets Tax Credit program achieves that goal by providing much needed funding to physically build homes for hard working families within qualifying census tracts. This money goes directly from the closing of the transaction into the construction of these homes. Families work alongside volunteers to build their homes, they are provided with a mortgage calibrated to their income, and they pay for their homes over a 25 to 30 year period. This economic and tenure security changes the lives of both current and future generations, thus leveraging up the value of the New Markets Tax Credit investment. We urgently request a permanent extension of the NMTC, and additional allocation of funds to continue the transformational work this program makes possible.
-John Desmond, Greater Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity, Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia
