Glossary

Housing Finance Agency (HFA)

Also known as: Housing Finance Authority, State Housing Credit Agency, HFA

The state, or in some cases local, agency responsible for administering a jurisdiction's Qualified Allocation Plan, allocating competitive 9% and as-of-right 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and, in most states, issuing tax-exempt multifamily housing bonds and administering other affordable housing finance programs.

Every state has a designated HFA -- sometimes a stand-alone housing finance authority, sometimes a division of a broader state housing or community development department -- that serves as the state's Section 42(m) allocating agency, the conduit issuer for private activity housing bonds under its own bond cap allocation, and frequently the HUD-approved participating entity for state-level risk-sharing insurance and other federal pass-through programs. Because a single HFA typically controls both the competitive 9% credit pipeline and the state's share of tax-exempt bond volume cap, it functions as the central gatekeeper connecting a project to nearly every major public finance tool covered in this category -- a developer pursuing 4% bond-financed credits, a 9% competitive allocation, or HUD risk-sharing insurance is very likely interacting with the same state HFA across all three, even though the programs are administered under different federal authorizing statutes. HFA underwriting standards, application deadlines, fee structures, and reporting requirements vary substantially by state, and larger or higher-volume states, and a number of major cities, may also operate their own local housing finance agencies with independent allocation and bond-issuance authority layered alongside the state HFA.