On March 21, Representatives Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced HR 1661 — the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2017. The bipartisan bill introduces a number of reforms that strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and is a companion to S 548 filed by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
From the ACTION Campaign:
The House bill would provide increased flexibility, simplify program requirements, make the financing of affordable housing more predictable and streamlined, support the preservation of existing affordable housing, and facilitate Housing Credit development in challenging markets, like rural and Native American communities, and for hard-to-reach populations, including those with extremely low incomes. The legislation also contains important provisions that would support development of rental homes using the Housing Credit coupled with multifamily Housing Bonds, which currently provide critical financing to roughly 40 percent of Housing Credit apartments.
The primary difference between the House and Senate bills is that the House bill does not include the 50 percent phased-in Housing Credit cap increase that is part of the Senate bill. However, it takes significant steps to strengthen the Housing Credit, and ACTION fully endorses this critical legislation. ACTION will continue to encourage the inclusion of a cap increase in any final tax legislation that advances through Congress.
There are currently 16 original co-sponsors of the bill, but none from North Carolina. The NC Housing Coalition is still working to gain the support of the North Carolina delegation. if you are interested in assisting in that effort, please reach out to Samuel Gunter at sgunter@nchousing.org or 919-827-4496.
For more information, see the:
