Congress Reintroduces the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act
This week, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 (S. 1136/H.R. 2573) was reintroduced simultaneously in the House and Senate. Introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Todd Young (R-IN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Rob Portman (R-OH), and by Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), the act would expand and strengthen the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, including by raising the Housing Credit volume cap by 50 percent, lowering the bond financing threshold to 25 percent, and making other programmatic changes that would allow the Housing Credit to better serve hard-to-reach populations, streamline program rules, and preserve more affordable housing. The bill has achieved wide bipartisan support in the last Congress, with more than half the members of the House of Representatives and more than 40 percent of Senators having cosponsored the legislation. NAHMA will continue to advocate for the passage of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act during the 117th Congress.
For more information on the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, please click on the links below:
- AHCIA One-Page Summary
- AHCIA Detailed Bill Summary
- AHCIA Differences between the 117th and 116th Congress
- AHCIA Full Bill Text
Senate Hearing Examines Racial Discrimination in Housing
This week, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing entitled Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racial Discrimination in Housing, which focused on the legacy of housing discrimination. At the onset of the hearing, Chairman of the committee, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-PA) both acknowledged the disgraceful history of housing discrimination in the United States. Testifying before the committee, witnesses outlined the history of government-sponsored discrimination in housing and homeownership, underscoring the role of redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and segregation in federal public housing. Specifically citing the 2019 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, witnesses stated that 19.01% of black applicants were denied mortgage loans compared to only 10.15% of white applicants. Witnesses also rebuffed the idea of “natural segregation” and pointed to the legacy of housing discrimination as having produced neighborhoods with concentrated poverty and a lack of recourses, largely populated by people of color. Racial discrimination in residential zoning policies and foreclosure-prone affordable housing policies were also discussed as two major causes of racial disparities in housing. Several Senators discussed ways to address housing discrimination including whether additions to credit reporting, such as reports on utility payments, would help to qualify more black households for homeownership. Other suggestions included strengthening and enforcing the Fair Housing Act, funding fair housing organizations, and re-staffing the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD.
To view the full Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Racial Discrimination in Housing, click here.
House Holds Hearing on Affordable Housing Infrastructure
The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing this week entitled Build Back Better: Investing in Equitable and Affordable Housing Infrastructure. The hearing focused on ways to expand, produce, preserve and retrofit more than two million affordable housing units, as proposed in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. Chairwoman of the Committee, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) stated that Congress must continue to recognize the role housing plays in scaling up solutions to address the affordable housing needs across the nation especially during the pandemic. Testifying before the committee, witnesses described how the lack of affordability in the rental market makes it harder for renter households to save enough money to transition to homeownership. Citing recent data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, witnesses showed that 8.8 million renters and 2 million homeowners were significantly behind on their rent and housing payments at the end of 2020, and that black and Latinx households were more than twice as likely to be behind as white households. Witnesses called on Congress to make historic investments in the future of American workers, families, neighborhoods and communities by preserving and expanding affordable housing infrastructure. Members heard suggestions on how to prevent housing instability, such as creating an emergency stabilization fund to provide financial assistance to cover the gaps between income and rental costs during a financial crisis. Witnesses also described ways the federal government could incentivize or require state and local governments that receive federal transportation and infrastructure funding to reduce regulatory and zoning barriers that increase the cost of development and limit housing supply for all renters.
To view the full House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Affordable Housing Infrastructure, click here.
Legislation to Permanently Establish the Rural Housing Preservation and Revitalization Program
Introduced by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, would permanently establish the Rural Housing Preservation and Revitalization Program, which provides financing assistance for rural rental housing and off-farm labor housing and rental assistance for qualified tenants of such housing. It also would authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide various assistance, including funding for insuring loans and grants for new farmworker housing. Specifically, the bill would seek to improve the availability of farmworker housing while lowering employer costs related to providing such housing by authorizing $1 billion to rehabilitate housing that is aging out of the USDA incentive program, reopening eligibility for rental assistance and preserving housing stock for farmworkers. The bill would also increase the amount of funding for the USDA 514 loan program and 516 grant programs, which provides 1% loans and grant for constructing new housing. The bill would also seek to reform eligibility criteria to expand the use of those programs in more expensive housing markets. The bill passed the full House in March and is currently being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
To view the full text of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, click here.