Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act Achieves 200 Co-Sponsors in the House, Sets New Goal of 218

By Kaitlyn Snyder
December 21, 2023 4 min read

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act achieved a major milestone – 200 co-sponsors within the House of Representatives (H.R. 3238). We should appropriately take a moment to celebrate but know that a new goal of 218 co-sponsors, or a majority of the House, has been set. Take a moment to review the listed co-sponsors and reach out to your Members of Congress if they are not already on that list. Advocacy is especially needed among House Republicans to maintain parity between the number of Democrats and Republicans on the bill. Several House Democrats are in the queue to be added to the bill, but for a partner on the other side of the aisle.

As I write this in mid-December, Congress has officially punted a tax bill to next year. The year-end to-do list has become a new year to-do list with fiscal year 2024 funding deadlines running through January 19 and February 2. The tax bill lacks a clear deadline but is generally accepted as needing to be done early in the year to ensure a smooth tax filing season at the Internal Revenue Service. Any changes made in the tax bill would need to be reflected in forms published by the IRS.

The ask is two-fold: (1) help reach 218 co-sponsors in the House by reaching out to members not already on the bill and (2) ask members who are already on the bills (S. 1557 in the Senate) to request that leadership include provisions from the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act in a tax package. Leadership is broadly defined to include leaders within each Chamber, as well as within the relevant tax and housing committees:

Senate Leadership

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD)

House Leadership

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA)
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-IN)
Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA)

Senate Finance Committee

Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID)

House Ways and Means Committee

Chair Jason Smith (R-MO)
Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA)

Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee

Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC)

House Financial Services Committee

Chair TBD following the completion of Patrick McHenry’s (R-NC) 2024 term
Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA)

There is momentum and members need to hear from their constituents to ensure that the provisions make it into the bill. The specific provisions that would be included in the tax bill are a reduction of the 50 percent test for four percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit/private activity bond-financed projects, as well as restoration of the 12.5 percent increase to nine percent LIHTCs, which expired in 2021.

These two provisions alone are projected by Novogradac to finance 1.5 million additional affordable homes over the next ten years.

The ACTION Campaign and the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition both have great advocacy resources on their websites, including updated state and district factsheets from the ACTION Campaign. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance as you make these asks.

Industry Insights

Final CRA Rule Implementation on Pause

Kaitlyn Snyder • May 1, 2024 4 min read

A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently granted an injunction to extend the Community Reinvestment Act final rule’s effective date, April 1, along with all other implementation dates. Here’s what you need to know about the case and how it will impact LIHTC investment.

The Guru Is In

Neither Fair, Nor Market, Nor Rent

David A. Smith • May 1, 2024 6 min read

Names can outlive their purpose and their original meaning. Though the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, a cluster of mutually distrustful principalities with a largely symbolic head of state known as the Holy Roman Emperor maneuvered under that rubric for a thousand years after its 800 AD founding by Charlemagne before it was put to sleep by the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Such may yet be the fate of two venerable concepts, Fair Market Rent (FMR) and the Area Median Income (AMI).

Legally Speaking

Blending Yields

Alex Zeltser, Esq. & Robert Kaplan, Esq. • May 1, 2024 7 min read

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting impacts on the economy and financial markets, as well as the Federal Reserve’s raising of short-term rates to stave off inflation, interest rates and construction costs have risen dramatically, resulting in funding gaps that many multifamily affordable housing developers in the four percent LIHTC space have had difficulty filling.