Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today with colleagues introduced bipartisan legislation that would help build nearly two million new affordable homes over the next decade.
“When it comes to solutions for affordable housing there’s no substitute for increasing supply. The centerpiece of this proposal is the largest-ever expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is the most effective program on the books for getting more affordable units built in Oregon and nationwide,” Wyden said. “On the Senate Finance Committee there is bipartisan interest in tackling the affordable housing crisis. With this proposal, Senators Cantwell and Young, along with our House colleagues, have laid out a cornerstone of that effort. I’m going to keep working with my colleagues because I believe there’s an opportunity to bring big housing ideas together and pass a bill in this Congress.”
The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would support the financing of more affordable housing by expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), our country’s most successful affordable housing program.
This bill comes at a time when our nationwide housing crisis continues to worsen. Currently, nearly one-in-four renters, over 10 million families, spend more than half of their household income on rent, cutting into other essential expenses like child care, medication, groceries, and transportation. At the same time, nearly 600,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness on any given day, an increase over pre-COVID levels.
Since its creation, LIHTC has built or restored more than 3.5 million affordable housing units, nearly 90 percent of all federally funded affordable housing during that time. Roughly eight million American households have benefitted from the credit, and the economic activity that it generated has supported 5.5 million jobs and spurred more than $617 billion in wages.
In addition to Wyden, the bill was led by Senators Todd Young, R-Ind., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
U.S. Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL-16) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA-01) introduced a companion version of this bill in U.S. House of Representatives.
A summary of the legislation is here. The text of the legislation is here.
A web version of this release is here.