Legislative State-of-Play
House Weighs Path Forward on 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
As the House and Senate continue to hash out possible next steps for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), concerns remain around the institutional investor ban for single-family homes, found in Section 901. The language included in the Senate’s version that was passed in March is broad enough to sweep in build-to-rent housing financed with the Housing Credit.
Last week, a bipartisan letter signed by 76 Members of Congress urged House leadership to modify the build-to-rent language as the bill moves forward. As currently written, the provision would be particularly disruptive in suburban, rural, and Native communities, where these developments are most common. The provision has drawn significant concern across the housing industry and is creating friction around an otherwise widely supported, bipartisan package.
Alignment around the proposal to increase the Public Welfare Investment cap remains strong, having been included in every version of the legislation. However, other provisions that many Housing Credit stakeholders support, including permanency for and significant reforms to the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program and a provision to decouple USDA mortgages from rental assistance, are only included in the Senate bill, as well as variations between the chambers concerning HOME Program reforms and efforts to streamline environmental and review processes.
Looking ahead, the House has several options to reconcile differences with the Senate, including a formal conference negotiation or advancing a revised version of the bill. Timing remains uncertain given a crowded legislative calendar, but conversations are ongoing as leaders work to preserve the bill’s bipartisan momentum while addressing key concerns.
Congress is also working on a next iteration of reconciliation—or maybe two. The first, informally known as reconciliation 2.0, is likely to be very narrow in order to fully reopen the Department of Homeland Security, with tensions continuing around the ICE/CBP funding. (During procedural Senate votes last week, nearly 650 amendments were proposed; none related to housing passed and most were not even voted on.) Rumors of a reconciliation 3.0 package and potential tax inclusion remain unclear given the particularly narrow margins that Republicans have in the House to pass a partisan measure through reconciliation.
Speaker Johnson Touts Housing Credit Expansion
In an April 17 press release, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) included the Housing Credit among a list of tax proposals that the House Republicans have championed. Speaker Johnson noted that the recent expansion of the Housing Credit is expected to finance the creation of 1.2 million additional affordable housing units over the next decade, which will provide affordable homes for countless families.
April AHCIA Cosponsorship Update
The push to build cosponsorship of the AHCIA continues, and we need your help to leverage the momentum from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act votes to add more Republicans to the bill. Strong cosponsorship is important should there be additional opportunities to advance a tax package in the remainder of this Congress and to ensure a strong foundation of support for the next Congress.
In the House, there were two new cosponsors this past month, bringing the total number of cosponsors there to 167.
- Tom Kean (R-NJ-07)
- Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03)
The AHCIA currently has 39 percent of Congress cosponsoring, with support evenly divided by Republicans and Democrats. Last Congress, we had nearly 60 percent of Congress signing on as cosponsors. There are a number of Democrats in the queue waiting to join as cosponsors, so please keep up your efforts to enlist more Republicans and make sure we finish this session of Congress with as many cosponsors as possible. Senate cosponsorship stands at 42 Senators.
Administration Updates
White House Publishes Tax Day Press Release Touting Housing Credit Expansion
On April 15, Tax Day, the White House published a press release fact sheet highlighting, among other things, the historic expansion of the Housing Credit last year via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The press release notes that the Housing Credit is incentivizing the construction of affordable homes for American families.
Administration Drops Appeal of Continuum of Care Court Case
On April 20, the Trump Administration dropped its efforts to appeal a court case related to the Administration’s efforts to significantly overhaul the Continuum of Care (CoC) program that helps fund housing and services for people experiencing homelessness. As ACTION has previously reported, a number of Housing Credit properties rely on operating assistance from CoC grants. The federal trial court judge overseeing the case has repeatedly ruled against the Administration’s efforts to change the CoC program. However, HUD indicated that it is still exploring options to alter the program.
ACTION Membership
In April, the ACTION Campaign welcomed one new member to the coalition!
Please join us in welcoming the following new member:
- Gilbane Development Company, Virginia
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.
Housing Credit Research
- An April 1 article in the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits explores a wide range of public, nonprofit, and private sources of gap financing available to Housing Credit developers, especially in the wake of increased demand following the reduction of the 50 Percent Test to the 25 Percent Test for bond-financed 4 Percent Credit properties.
- An April 2 article in the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits explores the early months of the new 25 Percent Test. The article finds that there has been a surge in interest among affordable housing developers in applying for bond-financed 4 Percent Housing Credits. One state Housing Finance Agency reported that, had the 25 Percent Test been effective for a prior round of Housing Credit awards, it could have awarded Housing Credits to four or five additional properties. The article also calls for the provision of additional gap financing.
- An April 9 blog by Novogradac & Co. analyzes the IRS’s allocation of Housing Credits and PABs for 2026. It finds that the national allocation for 9 Percent Credits in 2026 will be just over $1.2 billion, or slightly more than $12 billion over the next 10 years (an increase of over 14 percent over last year), and the national annual pool of PABs will be north of $50 billion (an increase of around 4.1 percent over last year). The analysis notes that in recent years, increasing amounts of PAB authority has been used for multifamily housing over other uses.
Housing Credit in the News
- An April 13 article in Tax Credit Advisor contains interviews with several leading Housing Credit practitioners who note that the historic expansion of Housing Credit resources last year has generally led to significant positive impacts. The increase in resources has led to an uptick in affordable housing properties entering the development and construction process.
