May 26, 2010

On May 26, NCSHA sent similar letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sandy Levin (D-MI), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) thanking them for including critical affordable housing provisions in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, H.R. 4213, which they are hoping to pass this week.  We have also asked our HFA members to contact their legislators to alert them to these important provisions and the impact they will have in their states.

The bill contains the following key affordable housing provisions: 
  • A one-year extension, through 2010, of the Housing Credit Exchange program;
  • A two-year extension, through 2012, of the placed-in-service date for properties financed with GO Zone Credits; and
  • $1 billion in funding for a one-time capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund and $65 million for project-based vouchers to support Trust-financed properties.  
 
NCSHA’s letters urge legislators to take these crucial provisions into account as they consider their votes on this important legislation and encourages them to continue to look for ways to expand the Housing Credit program this year to include 4 percent and disaster Housing Credits—both GO Zone and Midwest flood Credits—to achieve the housing production and recovery potential Congress and the Administration intended in making these Credits available to states.
 
We will continue to look for opportunities to advance these priorities, as well as an investor carry-back provision and incentives for individual investors in future tax bills, as it appears now that both houses are committed to passing this bill without amendment. 
 
At this writing, passage by either house is not assured.  House leaders plan to bring up the bill this week and Senate leaders plan to bring it up after the House acts.