The Single Family Tax Credit program provides tax credits to aid in the new construction or rehabilitation of single-family dwellings to help in the creation of new, affordable home ownership opportunities.
How It Works
The Single Family Tax Credit program leverages public-private partnerships to increase the inventory of affordable, single-family housing for Ohio's growing workforce. The program provides $50 million a year for four years in tax credits to be awarded to eligible, approved projects.
Project applications must include a minimum of five, single-family dwellings to be constructed or blighted structures to be made habitable. The dwelling sites may be contiguous or "scattered" site. Each dwelling must include a minimum of two bedrooms and one and one-half baths.
Each dwelling must be sold to a qualified buyer, as defined by the program, who will use it as their primary residence. The sale price of the house must be affordable (i.e., no more than 30% of the qualified buyer's monthly income) and remain affordable for 10 years after the initial sale.
The tax credit is calculated as the difference between the total development cost of the project and the aggregate appraised market value of all dwellings in the project. Proposed projects may receive up to a maximum of $100,000 in tax credits per dwelling, which are issued at the completion of the project. The tax credit can be claimed annually over a 10-year period with the annual amount equaling one-tenth of the total issued tax credit.
- Single Family Tax Credit – Program Fact Sheet (688 KB Adobe PDF File)
- Single Family Tax Credit – Tax Credit Information (714 KB Adobe PDF File)
- 2024-2025 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan w/ 2025 Technical Amendments (1.07 MB Adobe PDF File)
- Fiscal Years 2026-2027 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan (effective July 1, 2025) Coming Soon
- Single Family Tax Credit Underwriting Guidelines (769 KB Adobe PDF File)
Single Family Tax Credit Application Period
OHFA will administer monthly application rounds for the program through March 2027. The schedule can be found here.
OHFA will review applications and award funding for each monthly round. Each round will be reviewed and scored independently, with all applications submitted in each monthly round competitively scored against each other.
Click Here for ApplicationThe resources below are designed to assist you with your Single Family Tax Credit application.
If you are unsure which pool your site is eligible for (Central City, Metro/Suburban, Rural), use the OHFA Property Locator Search Tool to look up details including census tract, geographic pool, opportunity index category, and opportunity index score.
Once you know the pool in which your site is located, use the relevant interactive map below to see how your site scores. Please note that the maps include only geographic scoring categories. The interactive map instructions provide a step-by-step guide designed to walk you through the process of using the maps for your application and include a Frequently Asked Questions section as well as a section on Data and Methodology. If you have questions regarding the maps after reading through these materials, please contact the Office of Research and Analytics.
- 2024 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan Map Instructions (430 KB Adobe PDF File)
- 2024 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan: Central City
- 2024 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan: Metro/Suburban
- 2024 Single Family Tax Credit Allocation Plan: Rural
- Overview of the Ohio 2024-2025 USR Opportunity Index
- Ohio 2024-2025 USR Opportunity Index (103 KB Excel File)
- Extreme Homeownership Need (13 KB Excel File)
- Homeownership Rates (15 KB Excel File)
- Grocery Stores (194 KB Excel File)
- Medical Clinics (29 KB Excel File)
- Pharmacies (196 KB Excel File)
- Public Libraries (59 KB Excel File)
- Public Parks (55 KB Excel File)
Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code
Questions?
For more information, contact:
Single Family Tax Credit Program
singlefamilytaxcredit@ohiohome.org
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency is an Equal Opportunity Housing entity. Loans are available on a fair and equal basis regardless of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, military status, disability or ancestry.
