On June 4, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019 (S. 1703) while Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Don Beyer (D-VA), Kenny Marchant (R-TX) and Jacky Walorski (R-IN) introduced companion legislation H.R. 3077 in the US House of Representatives. Both the Senate and House versions of the bill include a 50 percent increase of the 9 percent LIHTC, phased in over five years, which is estimated to produce and preserve 384,500 additional affordable homes over the next ten years. The bills also establish a minimum four percent LIHTC rate on projects financed using tax exempt bonds. The bills include several new provisions from the prior versions of the legislation introduced in the last Congress, including:
- A 30 percent basis boost for LIHTC properties in rural areas;
- Replaces the right of first refusal with a purchase option;
- Allows states to use recycled multifamily bond proceeds to finance affordable rental and homeownership options; and
- Changes the official name of the LIHTC to the Affordable Housing Tax Credit.
The ACTION Campaign, of which NH&RA is a steering committee member, is submitting a letter to Congress demonstrating the strong support for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act. The deadline to sign-on to the letter is Tuesday, June 11.
All existing ACTION Campaign members will be included in the letter and NH&RA strongly encourages our members to sign-on if they are not already an ACTION member. If you have any questions or wish to remove your organization from the letter, contact Sarah Brundage at sbrundage@enterprisecommunity.org.
The ACTION Campaign published a summary of key provisions, the full bill summary and description of changes between the previous and new versions.
