I am adding this post for insomniacs who accidentally ended up here and kept reading or my family who are trying to decipher what I do.

I found two excellent basic pages that explain the Low Income Housing Tax Credit process and economics simpler than I have ever managed when trying to explain it.  I found them at the Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. site.  In explaining the tax credits, it also explains the importance of the program.  The first is pictorial lihtc_story and is probably the best to start with.  If you are still wanting more, here is a summary lihtc_one_page_summary.  I wish I had seen these before my recent presentation at an A.I. DuPont High School class.