(The Center Square) – A little known federal tax credit that existed since Ronald Reagan was president has a long way toward creating more affordable housing in North Carolina, the state director told The Center Square.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit will help developers build $1.47 billion in affordable apartments in North Carolina this year and 21,960 jobs and produce $95.3 million in state and local tax revenue, said Scott Farmer, executive director of the NC Housing Finance Agency, which administers the program launched in 1987.

“What it effectively did was create a state-by-state allocation of federal tax credits to create, effectively, equity, for a public private partnership to develop apartments and also rehabilitate existing apartments,” Farmer said.

Once approved for the tax credits, the developers can then sell them on the private market, at a reduced price, such as 80 cents on the dollar.

“They are generally purchased by large corporate entities that have large tax obligations,” Farmer said.

The money from the sale of the tax credits lowers the amount the developer has to borrow for apartment construction.

“That’s how you keep the rents down,” Farmer said. “Your bank debt is much smaller so that you keep your rents affordable. It’s the truest form of a public-private partnership because you have the state agency, the federal government and these private investors that are all participating as well as the developers.”

Allocations of the tax credit is based on a state’s population. North Carolina’s allocation is around $34 million a year.

“There is a long waiting list,” for the tax credits, Farmer said. “The problem with this program is that we don’t have enough resources to go around.”

While other federal programs have been on the chopping block this year, Congress approved a 12% increase in the Low-Incoming Housing Tax Credit program, Farmer said.

“It was one of the few things that was increased and shows the bipartisan support for this program,” the director said.

Construction costs, labor and rents have all been going up over the last five years, Farmer noted.

“Without these types of programs, it would be difficult if not impossible to make these kinds of properties available for families and seniors,” he said.

(The Center Square) – In yet another reversal in an ongoing case against former U.S. Rep. Robert (Beto) O’Rourke, D-El Paso, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals has ordered that existing restraining orders already issued against him, his organization, Powered by People, and other groups remain in effect.

The case stems from O’Rourke, his group, and others raising millions of dollars for Texas House Democrats who left the state in opposition to a redistricting bill that passed the legislature and has now been signed into law.

The case was filed in Tarrant County District Court, 348th Judicial District, then appealed to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, then an emergency filing was made with the Texas Supreme Court. Initially, Tarrant County Judge Megan Fahey issued a restraining order against O’Rourke and Powered by People, The Center Square reported. She later expanded it to include Act Blue, a Democratic Party online fundraising platform, and any other platforms or organizations they were working with that are transferring funds.

However, O’Rourke ignored the orders and continued to fundraise, prompting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to file a motion for contempt against O’Rourke, The Center Square reported.

Prior to a Sept. 2 hearing on the contempt motion, O’Rourke filed a mandamus petition with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals challenging Fahey’s orders.

In response, the appellate court halted the contempt hearing, effectively allowing Fahey’s orders to expire in an “historically unprecedented decision,” Paxton said. He then appealed to the Texas Supreme Court to reverse its decision.

In his appeal, Paxton points out that the appellate court requested his office respond to a 75-page petition in less than 24 hours, an “impossible deadline.” After his office filed a mandamus petition with the court, the appellate court issued an administrative stay of the Sept. 2 hearing “without providing the State an opportunity to respond,” he argued.

The court’s actions would have enabled O’Rourke to continue fundraising, “without even allowing the State to respond and prove to the court how he’s hurting Texans,” Paxton said. The appellate court’s ruling was an “insult to the people of Texas, an affront to our judicial system, and a disastrous precedent if allowed to continue without being reversed,” he added.

A week later, the appellate court reversed its ruling “to preserve this court’s ability to fully review” the original proceedings, it said in a one paragraph order. It also put back into effect Fahey’s orders issued against O’Rourke, Powered by People and ActBlue. It said her temporary restraining order and emergency temporary restraining order “shall remain in effect” until the appellate court reaches a decision.

Paxton said the reversal was “a welcome development.”

He also said House Democrats who left the state “abandoned Texas at the behest of financial backers who promised them money for fleeing the state and abdicating their responsibilities. Texas is not for sale, and Beto must face justice for his illegal bribery scheme.” 

The appellate court’s order prevents O’Rourke, Powered by People, and any of its institutional partners, including ActBlue, from removing any property or funds out of Texas.

O’Rourke said in a social media post that he faces criminal contempt charges, bribery accusations, his Texas-based assets have been frozen, and he and his organization have “racked up over $300,000 in legal fees” in the last two weeks of August.

He denies that he has broken any laws after he continued to fundraise and post videos of him doing so, including posting links to fundraising appeals.

He is also encouraging his followers and supporters to “continue the fight by whatever means necessary.”

(The Center Square) – State Sen. Bobby Hanig will enter the Republican primary for North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, hoping to defeat Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson and eventually second-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Davis.

Filing with the State Board of Elections is in December. Hanig has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. Roberson said he would run in April.

“I’m running because northeastern North Carolina deserves true conservative leadership that will fight for our community and the America first agenda,” he said in a release.

The seat was the most competitive between Democrats and Republicans in 2024 and figures to again be so in the 2026 midterms. Davis outlasted Republican Laurie Buckhout 49.52%-47.84%, winning by 6,307 votes of more than 376,000 cast.

Twenty-two counties are touched in the northeastern part of the state.

Hanig, R-Currituck, is a veteran of the Army. He has served the Board of Commissioners in Currituck County, and was in the state House of Representatives for two terms. By trade, he began as “the pool guy” and operates two businesses serving nearly 400 properties across the Outer Banks.

He’s chairman of the State and Local Government Committee, and serves as chairman within the Committee on Appropriations for General Government and Information Technology. He’s vice chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Local Government.

Four other assignments are Agriculture, Energy and Environment; Education/Higher Education; Regulatory Reform; and Transportation.

“I believe in President Trump’s America First Agenda and my record in the Legislature backs it up,” Hanig said. “I’ve cut taxes for North Carolina families, toughened border control in the state, stood up for life, and defended our Second Amendment rights.”