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The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on July 20 that explored tax incentives within the affordable housing space. NMHC and NAA weighed in with the committee to stress the important role tax incentives play in supporting the development of affordable housing.
Why It Matters: The hearing gave the multifamily industry an opportunity to educate lawmakers about the shortage of multifamily units as a key driver of the nation’s housing affordability challenge.
We proposed solutions to address the issue while also noting that recent research completed by NMHC and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that high regulatory costs are also further constraining supply.
Addressing the Problem: To bridge the supply gap, we recommended to the committee that Congress enact a suite of tax policies that would:
- Expand and enhance the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit;
- Enact the Middle-Income Housing Tax Credit to support workforce housing;
- Enhance Opportunity Zones to incentivize the rehabilitation and preservation of multifamily buildings;
- Encourage the adaptive reuse of underutilized commercial properties into multifamily housing;
- Promote the rehabilitation of multifamily housing located near transit; and
- Support measures to help property owners retrofit properties to meet building performance goals in line with our national climate policy.
