A new guide supported by Enterprise offers strategies for CDFIs to use Opportunity Zones to create equitable and inclusive growth in lower-income communities.

Enterprise Community Loan Fund president Lori Chatman testified before the IRS on the proposed rule for Investing in Qualified Opportunity Funds. Chatman urged the IRS to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the rules implementing the new Opportunity Zones tax benefit so that stakeholders, including Congress and the public, can evaluate the impacts and outcomes of investment in low-income communities.

The regulations for Opportunity Zones will have a profound impact on the ability of this tax incentive to create equitable and inclusive growth. Enterprise has identified four main priorities to share with the IRS. We encourage all affordable housing and community development stakeholders to submit their comments to the IRS before the December 28 deadline.

This week, President Trump signed an executive order creating an Interagency Council on opportunity zones to develop best practices and ensure that the new tax incentive is supporting economic growth and inclusion in the designated census tracts.

Recent Enterprise media coverage has built public understanding of the importance of creating well-designed, affordable homes in diverse, thriving communities.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published its proposed regulations and an accompanying revenue ruling on the Opportunity Zones tax incentive that was enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.