Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced Monday that she is reintroducing legislation with co-sponsor Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and at least nine other Senators to improve and expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. NH&RA Executive Director Thom Amdur attended the announcement, which took place at the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ Legislative Conference. Amdur noted, “This critical legislation enjoys the full support of NH&RA, our members and the broader affordable housing industry. Senators Cantwell and Hatch are true champions for affordable housing. We look forward to working with our members to build more support for this important legislation.”
That same day, Sen. Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor regarding the LIHTC. Included in her explanation of reasons for increasing the credit, Sen. Cantwell provided an economic impact model by the National Association of Homebuilders showing significant increases in federal, state, and local tax revenue per multifamily unit built with the LIHTC. The report concludes that if the LIHTC were expanded in line with Cantwell’s 2016 proposed legislation, S. 2962, then the resulting 400,000 additional units would create 452,000 additional jobs, as well as a gross increase in federal revenues of $11.4B, and state and local revenues of $5.6B over ten years.
