NH&RA signed a letter to Congress along with 120 organizations supporting federal legislation that would create tax credits for zero-carbon buildings and retrofits. Buildings are the largest single contributor of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, producing approximately 40 percent of global emissions. The proposal includes six refundable tax credits aimed at lower-income Americans who may not owe enough taxes to benefit from the tax credits to Real Estate Investment Trusts that aren’t structured to utilize tax credits:  

  • Improve the existing Energy Efficient Home Credit (45L) for energy efficiency in new housing and major renovations and the Commercial Buildings Energy-Efficiency Tax Deduction (179D) for energy efficiency in existing commercial and multifamily buildings;  
  • Create a LIHTC Deep Energy Basis Adjustment, which would provide a 30 percent basis adjustment for four percent LIHTC deals for deep energy retrofits in existing buildings;  
  • Create a Home Lead Safety Tax Credit (36B), which would assist with mitigation of lead in the estimated 22 million American households with a lead paint hazard, as homes are decarbonized;  
  • Create a Clean Heating and Cooling Tax Credit (45X), which would lower the costs of clean heating and cooling technologies that replace existing fossil fuel combustion or electric resistance heating technology in existing commercial and multifamily buildings; and 
  • Update the former Energy Efficient Appliance Credit (45M) to help manufacturers scale up production capacity.