NCSHA Statement on the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021

Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, S. 1136/H.R. 2573.

WASHINGTON, DC — The National Council of State Housing Agencies commends Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Todd Young (R-IN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Rob Portman (R-OH) and Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) for their leadership in introducing the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021.

By expanding and strengthening the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit), the bill would build approximately two million additional affordable apartments across the United States over the next decade, create three million jobs, and generate $346 billion in wages and business income and $120 billion in additional tax revenue.

“Never has the importance of affordable housing been more clear — and its scarcity felt more severely — than now, a year into a global pandemic, when so many are facing housing instability. It is imperative that Congress pass the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act this year,” said NCSHA Executive Director Stockton Williams.

Since its creation in 1986, the Housing Credit has been the most effective and efficient response to meeting housing affordability needs in all parts of the country, producing and preserving more than 3.5 million affordable apartments. NCSHA represents the state agencies that administer this essential, effective program.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would raise the Housing Credit volume cap by 50 percent and lower the bond finance threshold to 25 percent. These two changes alone could result in the production of nearly 1.8 million affordable homes over 10 years.

The bill also allows the Housing Credit to better serve extremely low-income, rural, and Native American families and students and preserve existing affordable housing.

With nearly 11 million renters — or one in four — paying more than half their income for housing and rents rising faster than wages, passage of this legislation is one of NCSHA’s highest priorities. We urge Congress to act as soon as possible so that low-income families, seniors, and those experiencing homelessness can access stable, safe, and affordable housing.

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.

For more information, contact Lisa Bowman, Director of Marketing and Communications.