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New Bill Introduced in Congress to Encourage Affordable Housing Investments

  • June 5th 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

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While DC and jurisdictions nationwide explore how to create housing affordable to low-income households, Congress may be taking another step toward enabling these investments.

Yesterday, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) of 2019 was introduced in both the House and the Senate, building on a similar law passed last year. The proposed legislation adds incentives to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit by increasing the allocation for housing credits by 50 percent over five years. One of the other provisions within the bill would lock in the 4 percent rate for tax credit and housing bond financing.

Last year's bill increased the housing credit allocation by 12.5 percent from 2018-2021 and also enacted income averaging, a provision which DC's Department of Housing and Community Development has included in its draft Qualified Allocation Plan.

Income averaging makes more projects eligible for LIHTC funds by allowing projects with affordable units for households earning up to 80 percent of area median income (AMI), as long as the average affordability across 40 percent of the units is up to 60 percent AMI.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/bill-introduced-in-congress-to-encourage-affordable-housing-investments/15486.

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