Legislative State-of-Play
AHCIA Reintroduction Imminent
ACTION is working with our Congressional leads in the House and Senate on the reintroduction of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA), which they plan to reintroduce the week of April 7. The bill remains largely the same, with no substantive updates from last Congress’ version. There are a few changes to effective dates and adjustments to account for inflation, with the only material change modifying the House version to include a Sense of Congress provision that mirrors the Sense of the Senate language from last Congress to develop incentives to encourage states and localities to reform or remove discriminatory land use policies. (A Sense of Congress is nonbinding language often included in legislation intended to send a message.) That change means that in the 119th Congress, both the House and Senate versions will be identical.
We are prioritizing outreach to Representatives serving on the Ways and Means Committee and Senators on the Finance Committee, as well as Republicans who have previously signed on as cosponsors. ACTION will have updated fact sheets and other advocacy materials available on the ACTION website after the bill is introduced. Please be sure to use these in your advocacy efforts.
Soon after reintroduction, ACTION will coordinate a sign-on letter from ACTION grassroots members to Congress in support of the AHCIA and urging Congress to enact Housing Credit priorities in the tax package currently being negotiated. Stay tuned for more information.
Separately, ACTION also will be facilitating a similar letter to Congress from mayors, county executives, and other local government leaders to demonstrate their support for the AHCIA. We will be asking ACTION members to encourage their local government leaders to sign on.
Check out the ACTION Advocacy Toolkit for national, state, and district fact sheets, as well as many other education and advocacy resources for your congressional outreach.
ACTION Hosts Congressional Briefing on the Housing Credit
On March 25, ACTION hosted its first-ever congressional briefing and reception for Members of Congress and their staff. Panelists provided details on how they deploy the Housing Credit in communities they serve as a Housing Finance Agency, developers, investors, and syndicators, underscoring the need to include AHCIA provisions in this year’s tax package. In addition to the panelists, AHCIA lead sponsors Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL-16), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke. NCSHA Executive Director Stockton Williams and Enterprise President and CEO Shaun Donovan, who previously served as OMB Director and Secretary of HUD, also provided remarks during the event. View the slides from the presentation here and stay tuned for a full recap on the ACTION blog this week!
ACTION also thanks the leadership and financial contributions from many of our Steering Committee members and partners who made this event a reality, as well as the panelists who traveled to D.C. to take part in the briefing.
Status of Reconciliation
House and Senate congressional leaders announced last week that they have made major headway on negotiations for a budget resolution that will set up a reconciliation bill inclusive of tax changes. As we have previously reported, reconciliation legislation requires only a simple majority to pass in both chambers.
While not all details of the compromise budget resolution are decided, the Senate and House could consider the resolution as early as this week, prior to the next Congressional recess. However, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) would not commit to a House vote prior to the recess, which starts on April 11. A vote would make possible Republican leaders’ goal of getting a final bill to the President by Memorial Day.
The most pressing question is whether Congress will be able to use “currently policy baseline” as the means for determining the cost of the reconciliation bill. Current policy baseline would assume $0 cost for extensions of existing temporary tax policy (i.e., provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017). Such a strategy would free up around $3.8 trillion and allow enough room for Congress to include other tax priorities, such as the Housing Credit expansion that ACTION supports. Republican leaders are waiting for a verdict from the Senate Parliamentarian, a nonpartisan position, as to whether such a baseline will be allowed.
Not all Republicans in Congress favor the current policy baseline approach, particularly fiscal hawks who worry about the impact on the debt, regardless of the accounting method used to determine the cost of the reconciliation bill. Other issues of importance to some Members include how much the budget resolution will require in cuts to key programs and whether it should lift the debt ceiling. Congressional Republican leadership and the President want to use the reconciliation bill to raise the debt ceiling so that Democrats will not be able to use the debt ceiling to leverage concessions from Republicans.
ACTION will keep members apprised of the latest developments. It is essential that Housing Credit advocates continue to reach out to Congress and underscore the importance of including the AHCIA’s production provisions in the tax package to address the affordable housing supply shortage. There are also many new Members of Congress we must educate on the Housing Credit’s proven track record and impact in their districts and states.
Government Shutdown Averted
On March 14, the President signed a full-year continuing resolution (CR) that Congress passed, funding the government through September 30 – the end of federal fiscal year 2025 (FY25) – and averting a government shutdown. The vast majority of government spending was kept at FY24 levels for the rest of FY25. However, several affordable housing programs under HUD received increases, including tenant-based rental assistance, which received a bump of $3.6 billion. Since these increases are based on FY24 levels, they – along with the programs that did not receive increases – are not significant enough to keep pace with inflation since FY24, and thus are a functional cut. According to Democrats on the Appropriations Committees, some 32,000 low-income families could lose their rental assistance – and thus could face eviction.
Senate Finance Chairman Affirms Support for Housing Credit
During a March 12 event at the US Chamber of Commerce, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) mentioned the Housing Credit as one of the roughly 200 tax policies under consideration this year. The fact that Chairman Crapo mentioned the Housing Credit by name is an indication of his support for the program and an acknowledgement of the severity of the affordable housing crisis. Senator Crapo has made similar comments in various press reports recently. ACTION remains committed to working with Chairman Crapo and the Finance Committee on including Housing Credit provisions in the tax package this year.
Importance of Housing Credit Raised in House Financial Services Subcommittee Hearing
During a March 4 hearing on increasing the housing supply in the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, the Housing Credit was mentioned as an important program for financing affordable housing. Freshman Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA-16) highlighted the importance of the program and expressed interest in seeing it expanded.
Administration Updates
2023 CRA Rule to be Withdrawn
On March 28, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that they intend to rescind the 2023 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule and reinstate the previous CRA rule from 1995. A year ago, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction halting the implementation of the 2023 final rule.
The CRA, enacted into law in 1977, is intended to incentivize banks to meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income communities that had suffered disinvestment in the decades leading to the enactment of the CRA. The CRA helps stimulate investment in the Housing Credit by allowing banks to get CRA credits for their equity investments in these properties. Approximately 85 percent of Housing Credit investment is CRA-motivated. The new rule aimed to modernize CRA requirements to reflect market developments since the last overhaul of the rules in 1995. For more, read ACTION’s November 2023 newsletter.
Executive Branch Staff Reductions
As covered in the previous newsletter, the Administration has begun implementing a significant reduction in workforce across multiple federal departments and agencies, including at HUD, IRS, and USDA’s Rural Housing Service (RHS). While some federal courts have ordered many of these employees to be rehired, the Administration is exploring other ways to reduce the federal workforce. Reports indicate that HUD and Treasury are preparing for significant additional layoffs in the months to come.
While the Housing Credit is largely administered by state agencies, ACTION is concerned that major staffing reductions could impact other housing programs that are used to fill financing gaps in Housing Credit properties or provide rental assistance.
Executive Order on CDFI Fund and Interagency Council on Homelessness
On March 14, the President signed an executive order (EO) ordering the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to be shrunk to the smallest possible size and cease all non-statutory activities. The EO has faced bipartisan pushback in Congress, while Treasury leadership has also pushed back against the CDFI Fund provision. ACTION understands that the CDFI Fund and its programs, as well as USICH’s work, are important to many Housing Credit properties and is monitoring the situation. However, on March 21, Treasury sent a memo to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as required by the EO, confirming that all 11 CDFI Fund programs are statutorily authorized and legally required.
ACTION Membership
In March, the ACTION Campaign welcomed seven new members to the coalition. Please join us in welcoming the following new members:
- Highlands Residential Services, Tennessee
- National Women’s Affordable Housing Network, National
- Völker, Wisconsin
- Edison Community Partners, Michigan
- Marion County Housing Authority, Oregon
- LBBA Architects, Illinois
- Knight Development, Louisiana
Help ACTION continue to grow our membership and advocacy strength by encouraging your networks to support affordable housing and the Housing Credit by joining the coalition. Membership is free. Together, we can demonstrate to Members of Congress the widespread support for the Housing Credit across the country. You can also help strengthen our reach by following the ACTION Campaign’s LinkedIn page and inviting your connections to follow and join us.
Housing Credit Research
- On March 13, ACTION Steering Committee member NLIHC released the 2025 edition of its annual report “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes.” The report finds that extremely low-income (ELI) households – those who earn 30 percent or less than the local area median income or the federal poverty level (whichever is greater) – face a shortage of 7.1 million available and affordable rental homes. In other words, for every 100 ELI renter households, there are just 35 affordable and available rental homes.
Housing Credit in the News
- A March 7 article in HealthAffairs calls on Congress to expand the Housing Credit in order to improve children’s health and future economic success. The article notes that stable, affordable housing in communities of high opportunity has long been proven to be an extremely powerful investment in the long run and also reduces the need for healthcare and other government expenditures.
- March 12 articles in the Wall Street Journal and Politico note that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) specifically named the Housing Credit as one of roughly 200 tax proposals that could be considered in the tax package this year.
- A March 13 article in Tax Notes covers Chairman Crapo’s comments about the Housing Credit.
- A March 19 Politico newsletter covers the prospects of the Housing Credit in the tax package this year.
- In an interview published March 19 with the East Idaho News, Chairman Crapo talks about the affordable housing crisis and mentions that he is supportive of expanding the Housing Credit in the tax package this year.
- On March 31, the US Conference of Mayors sent a letter to Congress, signed by 225 mayors across both parties, urging Congress to expand the Housing Credit this year, among other things.
