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NLIHC Releases Report on State Projects Funded by the National Housing Trust Fund in 2020!

Aug 07, 2025

The National Housing Trust Fund: A Summary of 2020 State Projects report is part of NLIHC’s effort to document the impact of the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF), the report summarizes how each state and the District of Columbia planned to use $323 million allocated in 2020 by the HTF. 

In 2019 – the fourth year of HTF implementation – states continued to use most of their HTF resources (74%) to target projects that served people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, elderly people, or other special needs populations. 

In 2020, out of $323 million allocated, 50 states and the District of Columbia awarded HTF assistance to 216 projects with 1,625 HTF-assisted units. Many of these projects also received HTF funds from previous and/or subsequent HTF allocations. A total of 2,148 units were HTF-assisted, considering funds from previous and/or subsequent HTF allocation years in these projects. As in previous years, states utilized most of their HTF resources in 2020 to target projects that will serve people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, seniors, or other special needs populations. 

The HTF remains an essential source of gap financing, used in conjunction with the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) 95 projects in 37 states, the Federal Home Loan Banks’ Affordable Housing Program (AHP) at 38 projects in 24 states, state or local Housing Trust Funds at 64 projects in 25 states, and other state or local affordable housing programs at 110 projects in 38 states.  

The HTF was used as gap financing for 135 projects also using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program’s equity investments in 2019, meaning that some units in LIHTC projects would serve extremely low-income households. Still, 34 projects in 20 states did not rely on LIHTC equity; in these cases, state policies tended to use HTF strategically in smaller projects not conducive to the LIHTC process. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) was a key financing component of 167 projects assisted with 2020 HTF funds in 46 states, while 46 other projects in 23 states did not use LIHTC.   

 

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Cover to The National Housing Trust Fund: A Summary of 2020 State Projects

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