Reps. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said on Thursday they would introduce legislation that would aim to make affordable housing more available and remove uncertainty in the tax code.
The legislation would make the low-income housing tax credit permanent in an effort to boost the affordable housing market.
“I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of the low-income housing tax credit during my visits to low-income housing developments in my district,” Tiberi, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, said. “It’s an effective, successful program and by making a permanent floor on the credit rate, we’re creating certainty for developers to create jobs and increase housing availability for more low-income families, veterans, seniors and individuals living with disabilities.”
Under the bill, the low-income housing tax credit would have a fixed floor of nine percent for construction of new rental properties and at four percent for existing property. The Economic Recovery Act temporarily set the rate floor at nine percent in 2008 during the economic downturn but that provision expired last year.
“Ensuring that Americans have access to affordable housing has always been a goal of mine,” Neal, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, said. “Our legislation accomplishes this by leveraging private capital to invest in new affordable housing in our neighborhoods and communities. As an added goal, this legislation also supports a proven job creating initiative that puts thousands of Americans to work each year across the country.”
Each year, approximately 100,000 housing units and jobs result from government programs that support renovation and construction of affordable housing.