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A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Prohibiting Discrimination Against Renters Using Housing Vouchers Improves Results, finds that only one out of three housing voucher holders are protected by source-of-income non-discrimination laws. CBPP interviewed policy experts and practitioners from various states, counties, and cities to gain insights into enacting and implementing source-of-income non-discrimination laws.

Freddie Mac recently announced that it has closed its second LIHTC fund since re-entering the market earlier in September, and the first fund managed by Hudson Capital. The Hudson Housing Tax Credit Fund will invest nationwide to create and preserve affordable homes. It will focus on transactions in areas that have been underserved over the past decade, such as rural communities, 4 percent LIHTC financing, and developments that provide intensive supportive services to their residents.

The A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods (ACTION) Campaign is a national, grassroots coalition of over 2,200 national, state, and local organizations and businesses calling on Congress to protect, expand, and strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The ACTION Campaign recently updated its fact sheets, which show the impact of the LIHTC in every state. The fact sheets have been updated with data through 2016, the latest data available.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) recently released a report entitled Balancing Priorities: Preservation and Neighborhood Opportunity in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program Beyond Year 30. This report raises the question—what will happen when almost 500,000 homes built through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) lose their federal affordability requirements?

Senate Finance Committee member Dean Heller (R-NV) recently introduced the Seniors Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act, S. 3580, which would establish a tax credit for owners of multifamily rental property who agree to rent to extremely low-income seniors. The tax credit would cover the difference between the senior household’s rent payment, at the lesser of 30 percent of the individual household’s income or the fair market rent, and the rent the owner would otherwise charge for a comparable unit in the building.

The National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) recently released “Variation in Development Costs for LIHTC Projects,” a report by Abt Associates. The report examines the factors affecting the cost of developing affordable multifamily rental housing using the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC). Using data provided by 14 LIHTC syndicators, the researchers analyzed development cost data for more than 2,500 projects developed through the LIHTC program and placed into service between 2011 and 2016. These projects included over 160,000 housing units.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently released a report entitled, “Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Could Do More to Expand Opportunity for Poor Families.” The report finds that LIHTC housing is disproportionately concentrated in higher poverty and racially concentrated neighborhoods. The report suggests improvements for the LIHTC program that could support low-income families’ access to low-poverty neighborhoods.

The House Ways & Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady (R-TX) recently introduced a follow-up to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Three bills constitute Republicans’ Tax Reform 2.0 package and primarily lock in individual and small business tax cuts made in the legislation passed in December 2017, and reform savings- and education-related tax provisions. The measures as introduced do not make any changes to the LIHTC.  

By a vote of 14 to 13, along party lines, the Senate Finance Committee recently voted to advance Charles Rettig’s nomination as IRS Commissioner to the full Senate. Rettig is a tax attorney at the Beverly Hills law firm Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, P.C. who has spent most of his career representing clients before the IRS.

Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) recently introduced the Housing, Opportunity, Mobility and Equity (HOME) Act, which is designed to promote inclusionary zoning policies and improve housing affordability. The bill directs all jurisdictions receiving grants under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to create strategies that increase the supply of housing and ease zoning restrictions that impede development.