Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) circulated a dear colleague letter on May 27 asking senators to cosponsor the “Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2016” (S. 2962). The letter cites NLIHC data showing the shortage of affordable housing nationwide. The bill would increase the allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) by 50% over a five-year period, make the 4% tax credit rate floor permanent for acquisition and bond-financed projects, and establish an income-averaging provision.
The letter states, “[T]he demand for affordable housing in this country continues to grow. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has found that 11 million renters spend more than half of their monthly income on rent, and there is a nationwide deficit of approximately 7.6 million affordable and available units for extremely low income households. If Congress does not act, the number of severely rent-burdened households in this country will increase by up to 25 percent over the next 10 years, as evidenced by a recent study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and Enterprise Community Partners.”
Read the dear colleague letter at: http://bit.ly/29aASVZ
Learn more about the bill at: http://1.usa.gov/1U2L6WI
More information about LIHTC is on page 5-32 of NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide at: http://bit.ly/1Tn9sqm