Legislative & Policy

The proposed elimination of the tax exemption for private activity bonds (PABs) in the House tax reform bill, along with elimination of the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit, will be devastating to the production and preservation of affordable housing (see CLPHA Report 11/13/17). Housing bonds are responsible for approximately half of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (housing credit) production annually. Together, the housing credit and housing bonds finance approximately 50,000 affordable housing units each year.

While Congress is home for recess, it is critical that Members hear from you about the impacts PAB elimination will have on affordable housing.

We urge you to reach out to your Congressional representatives with the following messages:

• Preserve the tax exemption of Private Activity Bonds to support the production and preservation of affordable housing
• Make changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to strengthen the program and offset the impact of a lower corporate rate on the value of the tax credit by including S. 548, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, in the tax reform bill
• Maintain the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit

CLPHA and stakeholders such as the ACTION Campaign (CLPHA sits on the Steering Committee) have continued to educate and press Congress to preserve these important housing production instruments. CLPHA has sent letters to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, the respective tax-writing committees in Congress, whose chairmen and ranking members will probably serve as floor managers for their respective bills and conference committee leaders for any eventual, final legislation.

Additionally, we encourage you to engage with your local media and news outlets to spread the message that the tax reform bill negatively impacts affordable housing. The Seattle Times recently published an op-ed from CLPHA Board Members Stephen Norman (King County Housing Authority) and Andrew Lofton (Seattle Housing Authority) about the elimination of private activity bonds. You can read the full op-ed here.  

As the summer August recess winds down, members of Congress, who are currently back home in their districts and states, will soon be returning to the nation’s capital to face a busy fall agenda. High on the agenda is funding the federal government for the coming fiscal year 2018, which begins Oct. 1.

It is reported that Congress may package the eight remaining appropriations bills (out of twelve) into one megabus spending bill. For HUD, this would require the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to agree upon the unresolved issues in their respective FY18 funding bills. If Congress is unable to complete action on the megabus (or any other joint spending measures) by Sept. 30, a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to keep the government running and funded at current levels. Of note to CLPHA members, a CR will not provide increased funding for THUD programs and will not enable lifting of the RAD cap as proposed in the Senate bill. Adding to the uncertainty, President Trump has threatened to shut down the federal government if he does not get funding for his border wall.

While both the House and Senate funding bills repudiated most of the Trump Administration’s budget proposals, the Senate THUD bill, in particular, offers higher funding levels than the House bill, including funding for the Public Housing Operating Fund, Public Housing Capital Fund, Housing Choice Voucher program, the Choice Neighborhood Initiative, Homeless Assistance Grants, the Community Development Block Grant, the HOME Investment Partnership program, and others. The Senate bill would also completely eliminate the arbitrary unit cap, as well as the public housing application deadlines for RAD.

CLPHA members need to urge members of Congress to fund important housing programs. 

Before Congress returns to the nation’s capital and becomes distracted by other matters, it is critical that CLPHA members reach out to their members of Congress and encourage them to support funding for public housing, housing vouchers and other HUD programs.  

ACTION:

We strongly urge CLPHA members to contact their members of Congress before the end of the August recess and ask them to support no less than the Senate committee-passed HUD appropriations funding levels for FY18, and the elimination of the RAD cap.

For questions or additional information, please contact: Gerard Holder, CLPHA Legislative Director gholder@clpha.org