Bell Testifies on Behalf of NCSHA at Senate Hearing on Tax Incentives for Affordable Housing — NCSHA
WASHINGTON, DC — Oregon Housing and Community Services Executive Director Andrea Bell represented the nation’s state housing finance agencies (HFAs) today at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on the role of tax incentives in affordable housing.
Bell testified that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) and tax-exempt private activity Housing Bonds are the most important production tools available to state HFAs to finance affordable rental housing and help low- and moderate-income families become home buyers. It is economically infeasible for developers to build rental housing without the equity derived from the Housing Credit unless they charge rents that are well out of the reach of low-income families. Since the Housing Credit’s creation in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it has financed more than 3.6 million affordable rental homes for low-income families, seniors, veterans, and those with special needs. In recent years, more than half of Housing Credit homes have been financed with the help of multifamily Housing Bonds.
Bell explained the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic has made it even harder to produce affordable housing. “The costs of many commodities necessary for construction have gone up drastically, while supply chain disruptions create development delays that further increase costs, and developers struggle to find skilled workers and subcontractors,” Bell said. Currently, the nation faces a shortage of more than seven million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters, with only 37 affordable and available units for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide. Moreover, due to historically low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rents, more than 70 percent of extremely low-income renters spent more than half their income on housing in 2021.
Noting the housing crisis will not get better for renters or homeowners unless Congress acts, Bell asked the Finance Committee members to pass the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, the LIFELINE Act, the Affordable Housing Bond Enhancement Act, and the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, and she urged Congress to enact the legislation this year.
Bell’s written testimony and a video of the hearing can be found here.
About the National Council of State Housing Agencies
For more than 50 years, state housing finance agencies (HFAs) have played a central role in the nation’s affordable housing system, delivering financing to make possible the purchase, development, and rehabilitation of affordable homes and rental apartments for low- and middle-income households.
The National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization created to advance, through advocacy and education, the efforts of the nation’s state HFAs and their partners to provide affordable housing to those who need it. NCSHA’s vision: An affordably housed nation. Learn more at www.ncsha.org.
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