Legislative Update & Current Advocacy Strategy
Congress Returns Next Week from Winter Break, All Eyes on January 19
Congress will return next week from its winter break with a large agenda for early 2024. In November, Congress passed a second stop-gap funding measure — a Continuing Resolution (CR) with a January 19 spending deadline for some federal agencies, including HUD, and a February 2 deadline for the rest. The CR allows the federal government to continue operating while Congress negotiates final Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending. If they are unable to reach agreement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he would seek a final CR lasting through the end of the fiscal year, essentially funding government programs at FY23 levels with a likely one percent cut as outlined in the June debt deal struck by President Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Other top issues on the congressional agenda for early 2024 include reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration and possibly passing a supplemental funding package that could combine aid for Ukraine, Israel, and/or Taiwan with border security funding.
Lastly — and most importantly for ACTION members — there is strong interest within Congress to consider a tax package, with the most likely vehicle being FY24 appropriations legislation. While there are technically two opportunities to advance tax legislation via a funding bill, given the two deadlines set in the CR, the funding bill that must pass by January 19 is largely seen as the last chance for Congress to act on expired tax provisions. To put off tax change enactment any further would create challenges for the IRS, which would need to adjust its forms and processes accordingly in advance of the April 15 filing deadline.
Just before Congress adjourned for the year, the AHCIA gained its 200th cosponsor in the House, and two additional cosponsors have been added since that milestone. With over a dozen House Democrats waiting to be added, we need only eight more Republican cosponsors before we get to a simple majority in that chamber. In the Senate, the bill has 30 cosponsors, with two dozen Democratic senators waiting in the queue. Cosponsorship of both versions of the bill is evenly split along party lines, representing 43 percent of Congress as a whole.
On December 15, the AHCIA leads in the House sent a letter to Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), urging the AHCIA’s inclusion in a tax package. Similarly, on November 28, the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) sent a letter to House and tax committee leadership urging the AHCIA’s inclusion in a tax package. In the Senate, just before that chamber adjourned for the year, Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR), a lead sponsor of the AHCIA, raised the urgency for Congress to take action to address the housing crisis in a speech on the Senate floor.
Continuing to increase support for the AHCIA is critical for our advocacy to secure Housing Credit provisions in the tax package Congress is negotiating. It is absolutely essential that advocates continue to reach out to their Members of Congress to urge them to contact their chamber’s leadership and tax committee heads to press them to include the Housing Credit in any tax package. Be sure to highlight the broad bipartisan, bicameral support for the Housing Credit program and for the AHCIA.
If you have any questions or want help with your own advocacy work, please let us know! More information on ACTION’s advocacy toolkit is below.
Workforce Housing Tax Credit Bill Introduced
On December 7, Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) introduced the Workforce Housing Tax Credit (WHTC) Act of 2023, S. 3436 and H.R. 6686. The legislation would create a new credit modeled on the Housing Credit to finance housing for renter households earning between 60 and 100 percent of the area median income. The bill is written to allow the WHTC to be used with the Housing Credit to meet the needs of a broader mix of low- and moderate-income households. It also provides states with the flexibility to opt to transfer any amount of its annual WHTC credit authority into Housing Credit authority at any point throughout the year. ACTION will not be taking a position on the bill, given our ongoing focus on the Housing Credit.
2023 Year in Review
AHCIA Cosponsorship | ACTION’s advocacy secured record increases in cosponsors for the AHCIA!
- When the AHCIA was introduced on May 11, the House bill, H.R. 3238, had a historic 66 original cosponsors, including the bill’s six lead sponsors, split evenly among Republicans and Democrats. As of the close of 2023, it boasted 202 cosponsors, including nine committee chairs and 79 percent of the Ways and Means Committee. Moreover, H.R. 3238 was the most cosponsored of all bipartisan tax bills in the House in 2023.
- The numbers in the Senate are similarly robust: S. 1557 has 30 cosponsors, also split evenly by party, including the most GOP senators ever to cosponsor the AHCIA in any Congress since the bill’s initial Senate introduction in the 114th Congress. Supporters of the bill include ten committee chairs and 63 percent of the Finance Committee.
Here is the final list of AHCIA cosponsors in 2023.
ACTION Congressional Outreach | ACTION and its members’ advocacy was at peak strength in 2023!
- House and Senate congressional offices heard from us throughout the year via well over 100 virtual and in-person meetings.
- ACTION members also made untold numbers of calls and email connections with their delegations to advocate for the Housing Credit and advancement of our bill.
ACTION’s Advocacy and Education Materials | To help our grassroots advocates educate Members about the Housing Credit and make the case for the AHCIA, ACTION developed or updated a plethora of advocacy materials.
- This summer, ACTION published its first-ever In-District Advocacy Guide, providing advocates with pro tips on how to best engage Members of Congress and their staff, including how to invite them to a Housing Credit site visit, conduct a meeting with Members and their staff, publish an op-ed, write a letter to the editor, and promote the Housing Credit and the AHCIA on social media.
- ACTION published a three-part video series in August, explaining each of the provisions of the AHCIA of 2023 in detail.
- ACTION maintained National, State, and District Fact Sheets, most recently updated in November/December of 2023, containing the latest data on the impact of the Housing Credit and projected effects of the AHCIA in every state and congressional district.
- Upon the introduction of the AHCIA, ACTION updated summaries of the bill in various levels of detail, a white paper explaining the changes made to the legislation since the prior version in the 117th Congress, talking points, a step-by-step explanation of how the Housing Credit functions in practice, and issue-specific fact sheets detailing the bill’s impact on health outcomes, climate, supportive housing, and specific populations such as Native Americans, older adults, persons with disabilities, veterans, and rural communities, among others.
Check out the advocacy toolkit!
Letters on AHCIA | ACTION organized letters signed by thousands in support of the Housing Credit, from mayors and local government leaders to businesses, nonprofits, and other affordable housing stakeholders.
- As the AHCIA was being introduced in the 118th Congress, ACTION organized a nationwide sign-on letter, urging Congress to expand the reach of the Housing Credit. The letter — signed by over 2,600 national, state, and local organizations and businesses — also encouraged Members of Congress to cosponsor the bill.
- This Congress, ACTION once again activated local government leaders in support of the AHCIA. Whereas in the previous Congress, our efforts only focused on mayors, this year, we expanded our outreach to include local government executives of various types — mayors, county board chairs, and county executives — showing the diversity of the demand and support for the Housing Credit from communities of all sizes. Partnering with the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and Mayors & CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment, ACTION collected signatures from 184 local government leaders on a letter sent to congressional leadership on September 21 in support of the Housing Credit and the AHCIA. This represents an increase of over 100 signatories compared to a similar letter sent in the 117th The bipartisan group of local government leaders who signed the letter represent rural, suburban, and urban communities of all sizes from across the country.
Housing Credit Support from the Biden-Harris Administration | In 2023, ACTION helped to convince the Biden-Harris Administration to align its Housing Credit agenda with ACTION’s AHCIA priorities.
- On March 9, the Administration released the President’s full FY24 budget request, proposing a $28 billion investment in the Housing Credit over the next 10 years, as outlined by the Treasury’s Green Book, which accompanied the budget proposal. The FY24 budget proposal is the first from the Administration to include ACTION’s production priorities from the AHCIA, including lowering the 50 percent Private Activity Bond (PAB) threshold test to 25 percent, and increasing the 9 percent allocation for all states.
- On February 2, Treasury announced that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released administrative guidance for implementing the second portion of a 15 percent global minimum tax (GMT) on multinational businesses, known as Pillar II. Treasury’s announcement specifically notes that the Housing Credit will be protected from the GMT. On July 13, the OECD published an updated version of the administrative guidance, which did not change the protected status of the Housing Credit. In a July 19 Ways and Means Subcommittee hearing, a senior Treasury official stressed to the Subcommittee that the Administration went to great lengths to educate the OECD about the Housing Credit and the importance of protecting it under Pillar II. As a reminder, ACTION was one of 30 organizations that sent a letter to Sec. Yellen in April 2022 urging the protection of the Housing Credit under the GMT.
ACTION Advocacy for Regulatory Updates | ACTION engaged with agency officials to propose potential updates and weigh in on key regulatory changes affecting the Housing Credit program.
- IRS 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan. On June 9, ACTION sent a letter to the IRS detailing recommendations to the IRS and Treasury’s 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan. The letter called for the IRS to take several actions included in the AHCIA that could be done administratively without legislative change, including implementing Violence Against Women Act protections for Housing Credit tenants, allowing greater flexibility for properties suffering a casualty loss, including relocation expenses in rehabilitation expenditures, and delegating authority to state agencies to prevent planned foreclosures.
- Community Reinvestment Act. On October 24, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published the long-awaited final rule updating the Community Reinvestment Act’s (CRA) regulations, which have not been updated since 1995. The CRA, enacted in 1977, helps stimulate investment in the Housing Credit by allowing banks to get CRA credit for their equity investments in these properties. Approximately 85 percent of Housing Credit investment is CRA-motivated. In ACTION’s August 2022 comments on the proposed rule, we raised concerns about the proposed consolidation of the investment and lending tests under the 1995 rule into a single community development financing test. The final rule codifies the consolidation of these two tests into a single test. However, the agencies adopted ACTION’s proposal to give equal weight to the newly created retail and community development financing tests. The new 50/50 weighting replaces the original proposal to provide 60 percent weighting to retail and only 40 percent weighting to community development financing. The new final rule allows banks to receive CRA credit for activities conducted outside their assessment areas in certain circumstances, which could lead to greater lending and investment in areas that previously did not benefit from the CRA, including many rural areas. The rule goes into effect April 1, 2024, but the new rules for exams become applicable on January 1, 2026. Now, agency staff are beginning the process of writing implementation manuals and retraining examiners on the new rule.
ACTION Member Engagement | The ACTION Campaign held regular meetings for members throughout 2023, including monthly updates via videoconference for ACTION grassroots members. The ACTION Steering Committee continued to meet on an as-needed basis, while its two subcommittees, the Legislative Subcommittee and the Data and Research Subcommittee, met regularly. ACTION also published monthly newsletters for members, which can be viewed on our blog.
ACTION Membership Growth | ACTION remains the largest coalition of Housing Credit advocates in the United States, with over 2,400 members. In 2023, ACTION welcomed 67 new members, including four in December:
- Home Forward, Oregon
- Brikwell, Colorado
- Regent Partners, Georgia
- Durham Housing Authority, North Carolina
Our grassroots membership is our strength, as it allows us to demonstrate to Members of Congress the widespread and growing support for the Housing Credit across the country. Please help us continue to grow by inviting your affordable housing partners who are not yet members to join ACTION.
In addition, we are working to make sure we have the latest contact information for our members. If you would like to add or change a contact for your organization, please enter that information in this form and we will make sure it is updated for 2024. You can also use the form to share your social media accounts if you would like ACTION to follow and share content from your organization on the Housing Credit.
Thank You!
The ACTION Campaign would like to thank affordable housing advocates across the country – especially our members, partners, and Congressional champions – who joined in our efforts to strengthen and expand the Housing Credit throughout 2023. In 2024, ACTION will continue its work to strengthen and expand the Housing Credit. We look forward to advocating alongside you in the new year.
