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HUD and the Treasury Department recently highlighted the Biden administration’s efforts to increase access to safe, quality housing by encourage the use of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for affordable housing production and preservation. The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), authorized by the ARP, delivers $350 billion to state, territorial, local, and Tribal governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden recently reintroduced the Decent Affordable, Safe Housing for All (DASH) Act, which implements sweeping reforms to affordable housing financing in an effort to combat homelessness and expand affordable housing access.
The IRS recently published Notice 2023-22 with the population figures used to calculate the calendar year 2023 LIHTC and private activity bond limits for all 50 states; Washington D.C.; and U.S. territories. According to the data, the population figures increased 0.4 percent from 2022 to 2023. However, the 2023 national 9 percent LIHTC allocation increased 6.2 percent from 2022.
The White House recently announced new actions to increase fairness in the rental market and further principles of fair housing. Notable actions announced include:
In November, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) from the House introduced “The Housing for Homeless Students Act of 2022” to help homeless students, veterans, and foster youth access affordable housing while pursuing an education.
The IRS recently published the amounts of unused low-income housing tax credit carryovers for calendar year 2022. The carryover allocation is made up of LIHTCs that are not allocated by states but are added to a national pool and redistributed to qualified states that apply for the additional credits. Revenue Procedure 2022-37 details how $5.4 million of unused LIHTCs were divided among the eligible states in the national pool.
A recent report released by the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) highlights the actions state housing finance agencies are going through in this period of increased labor, materials, and financing costs to ensure pending LIHTC projects can proceed as planned. The report is titled, “Filling Funding Gaps: How State Agencies are Moving to Meet a Growing Threat to Affordable Housing.”
On Aug. 16, President Biden signed into law the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes significant investments to address climate change in affordable housing. The law provides billions of dollars in funding through direct spending and tax credits that can be used to preserve affordable housing, reduce energy costs, and increase community resilience.
In early August, the White House hosted a virtual summit on “Building Lasting Eviction Prevention Reform.” As funds for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) are beginning to wind down, the meeting focused on the need for an all-out effort to build lasting eviction prevention reform.
More than half of all states have measures aimed at protecting LIHTC sites from natural disasters, according to a new report from Freddie Mac. The research is part of Freddie Mac’s Duty to Serve plan, a regulatory mandate from the federal Housing Finance Agency to provide leadership and facilitate mortgages for underserved markets such as affordable housing.