``Difficult Development Areas'' for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

This notice designates DDAs for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The designations of DDAs in this notice are based on final Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Fair Market Rents (FMRs), FY2008 income limits, and 2000 Census population counts, as explained below. This notice also lists those areas treated as DDAs under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 (GO Zone Act) (Pub. L. 109-135; the GO Zone Act, as amended by the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007). Specifically, the GO Zone Act provides that areas ``determined by the President to warrant individual or individual and public assistance from the federal government under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act)'' as a result of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, or Wilma: (1) Shall be treated as DDAs designated under subclause (I) of Internal Revenue Code section 42(d)(5)(C)(iii) (i.e., areas designated by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development as having high construction, land, and utility costs relative to area median gross income (AMGI)), and (2) shall not be taken into account for purposes of applying the limitation under subclause II of such section (i.e., the 20 percent cap on the total population of designated areas). The designations of QCTs under section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) published September 28, 2006 (71 FR 57234) remain in effect.