Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-La) secured a letter of support co-signed by Secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, Tim Geithner, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan for extending the Gulf Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) placed-in-service deadline through 2012. In December, the Senate passed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Authorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which only extended the placed-in-service-date through 2011.

The letter expresses the Administration’s commitment to working with Congress to enact the extension, stating “[n]ot extending the GO Zone placed-in-service date for an additional year would result in a major setback for the recovery and would impact public housing residents, business, and communities. It would be unconscionable to let the work that has created so much progress, and so much hope, go unfulfilled.” Without the extension, nearly 5,000 Gulf Coast units plus related jobs would be in jeopardy.

The Gulf Opportunity Zone was created to encourage rebuilding of areas impacted by the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.