BERKELEY: The California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) has adopted the opportunity map developed by the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) and its partners, California Housing Partnership and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation for 2026.
This project was spurred by a 2017 investigation by OBI that found the majority of LIHTC resources for low-income housing in the Bay Area were being directed to low-income neighborhoods, and that only a small percentage of low-income housing was being constructed in high-opportunity areas. OBI and its partners have been updating this map annually for the past nine years. Since state agencies adopted the first statewide map in 2018, it has guided the siting of affordable housing using the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, working with partners supporting CTCAC and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
The purpose of the map is to advance two specific Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) objectives – increasing access to opportunity and replacing segregated living patterns with integrated and balanced living patterns. To advance these objectives, the mapping methodology is designed to identify areas whose characteristics have been shown by research to support positive economic, educational, and health outcomes for low-income families, while excluding areas with high poverty and racial segregation.
The 2026 Opportunity Map and previous maps, along with methodology and summary datasets, are available on the CTCAC's website.
