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A recent report by the NYU Furman Center entitled “2017 National Rental Housing Landscape: Renting in the Nation’s Largest Metros” examined rental housing trends from 2006 to 2015 in the 53 metropolitan areas with populations over one million in 2015, with a particular focus on the economic recovery period beginning in 2012.
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Jose have added pressure on Congress to assist in the recovery efforts of the affected areas. And industry experts have pointed out the effectiveness of the LIHTC program to direct private capital into affected areas.
Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) have reintroduced the National Disaster Tax Relief Act, first introduced as H.R. 3110 in 2015. The bill would provide relief for disasters from 2012 to 2015 and make certain provisions permanent. When Reed and Pascrell introduced it in July 2015, it garnered 41 co-sponsors.
If enacted, areas that experienced federally declared disasters from 2012 – 2015 would receive additional allocations of LIHTCs. Each state would receive the greater of $8 per capita in disaster areas or 50 percent of the annual state ceiling.
HUD recently published a notice designating the 2018 Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) and Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Qualified Census Tracts are those areas where either: (1) 50 percent or more of the households have incomes below 60 percent of the area median gross income; or (2) the poverty rate is at least 25 percent. Difficult Development Areas are those areas with high construction, land, and utility costs relative to the area median gross income.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released two annual reports on income and poverty. The first report, entitled “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016,” presents data on income, earnings, income inequality, and poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2017 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) recently introduced the Smoke Free Affordable Housing Act (HR3322) to encourage subsidized housing developers to maintain a healthy environment for residents while protecting the subsidized property from expensive smoking-related remediation costs. According to her press release, the Smoke Free Affordable Housing Act would incentivize subsidized housing developers to establish and maintain smoke-free policies to create a healthy environment for residents and protect the investment of hardworking taxpayers.
On Aug. 1, 2017, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “America’s Affordable Housing Crisis: Challenges and Solutions.” Committee members from both sides of the aisle acknowledged the need for more affordable housing and the role of LIHTCs as our nation’s primary tool for increasing the supply of affordable rental housing.
Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, Daniel Garcia-Diaz, a director of financial markets and community investment with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), referring to the LIHTC program, said, "IRS and no one else in the federal government really has an idea of what's going on. These are basic accountability requirements we would expect of any program, especially one as important as this one."
Two Stanford economists recently conducted a study that looks into the ramifications of a bill Congress is preparing concerning affordable housing. The bill would no longer require state agencies to notify local officials when siting a proposed housing development, leaving the officials with no liberty to choose who they live with in terms of financial status.
The U.S Conference of Mayors (USCM) is making affordable housing and community development key priorities in its policy agenda. The USCM is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more, with each city represented by its mayor. At the organization’s 85th Annual Meeting, incoming USCM President Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans joined his colleagues in unveiling their bipartisan proposal, Leadership for America: Mayors’ Agenda for the Future.
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