Today a majority of the House Democratic caucus called on House leadership to expand and strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) as part of any infrastructure reconciliation legislation. Led by the House Democratic sponsors of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (H.R. 2573), Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), and joined by 109 other Democratic Representatives, the letter comes at a time when the Democratic-only budget reconciliation bill to address in our nation’s ‘human’ infrastructure is developing quickly. With many competing priorities, showing the broad support and urgent need to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit is critical.
“Addressing the nationwide affordable housing crisis will take a comprehensive and holistic approach and cannot be solved without vastly increasing the supply of affordable rental homes,” the lawmakers wrote. “The [Housing Credit] benefits low-income communities in every state and benefits urban, rural, and suburban communities alike.”
This week, the House passed a rule setting a September 27 deadline for consideration of the bipartisan infrastructure framework, which passed the Senate earlier this month. Speaker Pelosi has so far pushed for the reconciliation bill to be considered prior to consideration of the bipartisan infrastructure framework to provide funding for ‘human’ infrastructure in addition to the ‘hard’ or ‘traditional’ infrastructure priorities addressed by the bipartisan framework. Negotiations around the reconciliation bill will now move quickly, with mark-ups in relevant committees over the coming weeks, and a mark-up in the House Ways and Means Committee scheduled to begin on September 9. Continued advocacy for the Housing Credit throughout this process is critical to ensuring that our priorities are included in a final reconciliation bill.
In addition to demonstrating support in the House through this letter, we encourage all AHTCC members to weigh in with Democratic Senators and ask that they convey to leadership the importance of including Housing Credit production provisions in the reconciliation bill. Please contact Megan John for advocacy assistance.
“The strong, broad-based support for expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit reinforces that now is the time to advance these sorely-needed proposals to address our nation’s affordable housing crisis,” said Emily Cadik, AHTCC Executive Director. “The Housing Credit has been a proven tool for more than three decades, and increasing its capacity is the most efficient and effective way to significantly increase the number of affordable homes we can provide.”
“Rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure must include investments in affordable homes, as families and communities struggle to recover from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic,” said Matt Josephs, AHTCC Board President and Senior Vice President for Policy at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. “This letter to House leadership conveys how critically important the Housing Credit is to these efforts.”
The AHTCC thanks Reps. DelBene and Beyer and all of the signatories, and the AHTCC members who advocated for their support. The full list of signatories can be found here. See Rep. DelBene’s press release here and additional coverage in The Hill.
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