EQUITY (Details Textual) (USD $)	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013 Mandatorily Redeemable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Perpetual Preferred Stock [Member]	Aug. 08, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member]	Jul. 03, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member]		Sep. 30, 2013 Subsequent Event [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Board of Directors Chairman [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Board of Directors Chairman [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 LIHTC Funds [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 LIHTC Funds [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Sa Fund [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 TE Bond Subsidiary LLC [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 TE Bond Subsidiary LLC [Member] Mandatorily Redeemable Preferred Shares [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 TE Bond Subsidiary LLC [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Maximum [Member] LIHTC Funds [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Minimum [Member] LIHTC Funds [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary, LLC [Member] Mandatorily Redeemable Preferred Shares [Member]	Jul. 03, 2013 MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary, LLC [Member] Subsequent Event [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary, LLC [Member] Second Quarter of 2013 [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary, LLC [Member] Second Quarter of 2013 [Member] Series D Perpetual Preferred Share [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 MuniMae TE Bond Subsidiary, LLC [Member] Second Quarter of 2013 [Member] Series C-1 Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Shares [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 International Housing Solutions [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 International Housing Solutions [Member]
Common Stock Equivalents Employee Options				2,128,125	850,000
Incremental Common Shares Attributable to Call Options and Warrants	1,354,122		240,457	1,254,647	258,192
Incremental Common Shares Attributable to Dilutive Effect of Equity Unit Purchase Agreements	51,511			25,898
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share, Amount	579,117		1,331,591	625,334	832,306
Stock Repurchased During Period, Value														$ 1,000,000
Stock Repurchased and Retired During Period, Shares													176,460
Equity Issuance, Per Share Amount													$ 1.23
Preferred Stock, Liquidation Preference, Value (in dollars)	121,000,000			121,000,000		159,000,000	43,200,000	27,000,000		121,000,000	[1]							121,000,000		118,000,000			74,000,000		9,500,000	6,000,000	5,000,000
Preferred Stock, Dividend Rate, Percentage				14.40%			7.50%	8.50%															5.00%
Debt Instrument, Unpaid Principal Balance	695,700,000			695,700,000															74,000,000
Quarterly Distribution Percentage		5.00%
Stockholders Equity, Period Increase (Decrease)										(3,000,000)	[2]	3,000,000													1,200,000
Proceeds from Issuance of Preferred Stock and Preference Stock													800,000
Preferred Stock Redemption Discount																									1,500,000
Preferred Stock, Discount on Shares																									300,000
Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Limited Partnership (LP), Members or Limited Partners, Ownership Interest																	2.70%				0.04%	0.01%						17.00%	17.00%
Decline in LIHTC Funds' Investment Balance																20,600,000
Noncontrolling Interest, Period Increase (Decrease)	7,300,000														600,000	22,100,000	1,700,000
Translation Adjustment Functional to Reporting Currency, Loss (Gain), Reclassified to Earnings, Net of Tax																	18,600,000
Operating Income (Loss)																	16,700,000
Proceeds from Noncontrolling Interests				3,590,000													3,600,000
Equity, Fair Value Adjustment																				3,000,000
Reduction Due To Unamortized Issuance Discounts And Net Premiums Paid		300,000
Debt Instrument, Fair Value Disclosure	37,900,000			37,900,000																				848,600,000
Unrealized Gain Loss on Debt Instrument	7,200,000
Increase (Decrease) in Assets Held-for-sale	$ 43,500,000
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Grants in Period, Gross				312,500
Stock Repurchase Program, Number of Shares Authorized to be Repurchased									4,000,000
Stock Repurchase Program, Remaining Number of Shares Authorized to be Repurchased									800,000
Percentage of Equity Per share									100.00%
Stock Repurchase Program, Period in Force									1 month
Stock Repurchase Program, Shares Authorized To Be Repurchased									the Company to purchase up to four million shares total, and up to 800,000 shares in any one calendar month at a price up to 100% of its common shareholders’ equity per share as shown on its most recently filed periodic report.

[1] The sum of these amounts total $848.6 million and represents the fair value of the bonds sold on July 3, 2013.

[2] Represents the total cash, restricted cash and interest receivable of $51.2 million transferred to the Purchaser as part of the sale of TEB.