May is National Affordable Housing Month, a time to recognize both the importance of affordable housing and the scale of the nation’s housing shortage. Recent estimates vary, but all point to the same conclusion: the United States needs significantly more housing. Some data suggests that America is short 7.2 million available and affordable rental homes, while other estimates place the broader national housing shortage at 10 million or even 20 million homes.
Against this backdrop, Congress is taking meaningful steps to advance bipartisan, once-in-a-generation housing affordability legislation. Most recently, on May 20, the House overwhelmingly passed an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, 396-13. This is an especially notable action during National Affordable Housing Month. The Senate passed its version of the legislation in March.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act contains around 50 housing-related provisions, including one ACTION has identified as a top priority: increasing the Public Welfare Investment (PWI) cap, which would allow banks to increase investments in the Housing Credit. Other important provisions would benefit Housing Credit properties in different ways, including via significant reforms to the HOME program, which supports around 15 to 20 percent of Housing Credit properties annually, and by decoupling rural rental assistance from underlying Rural Housing Service mortgages so that the Housing Credit could be more effectively used to preserve housing in rural communities.
Importantly, the House-passed version of the bill adjusts a provision supported by the Administration that would limit institutional investor purchases of single-family homes. Many Housing Credit advocates raised concerns that the original text of this provision in the Senate’s bill could unintentionally prevent investment in Housing Credit-financed single-family rental housing, which is common in some suburban, rural, and Tribal communities where townhouse, duplex, and scattered site rental properties are an important housing option. The House bill would not impede the financing of single-family rental homes with the Housing Credit.
It’s important that advocates know that this bill falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees, not the tax-writing committees, and thus focuses on HUD and USDA program reforms. While complementary to ACTION’s agenda for the Housing Credit, it is not a vehicle that could be used to advance tax changes.
The White House expressed support for the House-passed version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. With both chambers now having passed competing versions of the bill, we now wait to see how the House and Senate can come together to both pass final identical text so that it can be sent to the President for his signature.
Where do we go from here?
Housing advocates should stay engaged to make sure Congress finishes the job it started and passes the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Housers should also keep building support for expanding and preserving our nation’s rental housing supply by bolstering support for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA).
Members of Congress will be home for the majority of both August and October, a perfect opportunity to invite them and their staff to site visits, groundbreakings, and grand openings of Housing Credit properties. In the coming weeks, ACTION will update the In-District Advocacy Guide with pro tips about how to secure or reinforce the support of your Senators and Representatives for the Housing Credit. AHCIA cosponsorship is critical for maintaining momentum ahead of future congressional tax action. Housing affordability remains one of the most pressing challenges facing communities across the country. Simply put, America needs more affordable housing, and there are a host of provisions included in AHCIA that can help deliver it.
