State report about Missouri’s costly low-income housing program

A new audit says Missouri’s low-income housing program is inefficient and among the costliest in the nation.

The report Monday by State Auditor Tom Schweich says Missouri awards more low-income-housing tax credits per capita than any other state.

But the audit says the program is inefficient because only 42 cents of every $1 in tax credits goes toward the actual construction of housing. The report says the rest goes to investors, syndication firms and federal taxes.

Special committees that have analyzed the program have reached similar conclusions in the past. But lawmakers have been at loggerheads over whether to pare back the program because some say it has a laudable goal.

The audit says the tax credits helped finance about 47,000 housing units since 1998.