Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act returns
The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023 (S.1557/H.R.3238) has been returned to Congress.
The legislation was reintroduced in the 118th Congress by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Todd Young (R-IN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) along with Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Don Beyer (D-VA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA).
The comprehensive legislation expands and strengthens the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit), our nation’s most successful tool for encouraging private investment in the development and preservation of affordable housing.
For nearly 40 years, the Housing Credit has been a model public-private partnership program, bringing to bear private-sector resources, market forces, and state-level administration. It has financed over 3.7 million affordable homes since its enactment in 1986, providing over 8 million low-income families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities homes they can afford, according to the NLBMDA.
The association notes that very little affordable rental housing development would occur without the Housing Credit.
The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023 is estimated to finance an additional 1.94 million affordable rental units over 10 years. It would also support nearly 3 million jobs, $115 billion in additional tax revenue, and $333 billion in wages and business income.
Highlights of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023 include:
- Increases Housing Credit allocations by restoring the 12.5% cap increase that expired in 2021 and further increases resources by 50% to help meet the vast and growing need for affordable housing.
- Allows states to maximize affordable housing production and preservation by lowering the threshold of Private Activity Bond financing — from 50 to 25% — required to trigger the maximum amount of 4% Housing Credits available to individual properties.
- Enables the Housing Credit to better serve hard-to-reach communities including rural, Native American, high-poverty, and high-cost communities, as well as extremely low-income and formerly homeless tenants.
- Makes the Housing Credit a more effective tool for preserving the nation’s existing affordable housing inventory by simplifying and aligning rules.
- Streamlines and simplifies program rules to align the Housing Credit with other affordable housing programs and remove administrative inefficiencies.
A one-page summary of the bill can be found here, while a detailed bill summary can be found here.
The NLBMDA said that its members are strongly encouraged to contact their elected officials and ask them to cosponsor and pass the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023.
