The redevelopment of the former Blessed Sacrament Church in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood into mixed-income housing has been stalled as the developer seeks low-income housing tax credit investors.

Developers who’ve relied on a federal tax credit program to build low-income rental housing are scrambling to secure more financing for projects.

Banks and other investors who traditionally have purchased low-income housing tax credits to offset gains are pulling back from the program because they’ve experienced multimillion-dollar losses. And developers who have been accustomed to selling tax credits for a certain price have had to slash prices.

The result is that developers of low-income housing are facing unexpected financing gaps.

“There are fewer buyers of the credits and the prices have lowered, making raising equity for affordable housing development more challenging,” said Lisa Alberghini, executive director of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Planning Office for Urban Affairs, or POUA.

But some believe that the lower prices will draw more corporate investors outside of the financial services industry, including insurance companies.

Joseph L. Flatley, president of the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., said in the past few years investors have been eager to purchase tax credits. That’s because banks and other federally regulated institutions not only reduce their tax liability when they invest in low-income housing tax credits, but they also help fulfill Community Reinvestment Act obligations. The act requires banks and financial institutions accepting deposits from certain communities to reinvest in those communities.

The competition pushed tax credit prices up. Prices had reached about 95 cents to $1 per tax credit, explained Flatley. The higher costs translated into lower returns for investors.

But as major investors, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have withdrawn from the program, tax credit prices have fallen to 85 cents and the yield is up to about 6.5 percent to 7 percent, according to Flatley.

“That’s a positive because it’s attracting other corporate investors,” he said. “There will be a broader investor base and that’s probably in the long run a healthy thing,” Flatley said. The Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., a nonprofit syndicator that raises housing tax credit equity for projects, raised $50 million in tax credit equity last year.

Still, because the current environment has stalled some projects, affordable housing developers are concerned.

“There’s no question that syndicators will reach out to new investors who haven’t used the investment before, and with a higher return given the lower prices it should attract new people to the market. The question is how quickly will it happen and how much will it fill the void,” said Alberghini, of POUA.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. has had to delay the start of a redevelopment project involving the former Blessed Sacrament Church in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. JPNDC is trying to draw tax credit investors to develop the church property into 118 units, including 16 homes for first-time buyers and 29 single-room occupancy units.

“There are some investors looking at [the Blessed Sacrament project] but investors are being incredibly conservative,” said Richard Thal, JPNDC’s executive director. “It’s very slow and they’re looking at things very conservatively, which is frustrating because these are very highly regulated projects and very similar to projects that have been done successfully for more than 30 years.”

Alberghini said investors are still showing strong interest in POUA projects, but she predicted that developers with less of a track record will struggle.

“Over time, one of the impacts is going to be that investors are going to be looking to more established sponsors [developers] and projects will require more subsidy,” she said.

Flatley, of MHIC, said the “banks are re-examining their tax appetite” but investors will return.

“The banks will be back into the market but now, because of the turmoil, they’re all adjusting their business plans,” he said.