Coming off a great three-day trip to Washington DC, I felt energized and enthusiastic about prospects for affordable housing legislation.  No matter the office we visited, Democratic, Republican, the House physician (I needed a band-aid) or the White House, we found enthusiasm for affordable housing and the LIHTC.  For those of us that work in and advocate for affordable housing, we know the depth of the crisis across the country but hearing that reality recited back to us from congressional staff and Members was, I dare say, affirming. 

What was actually amazing about these conversations was the lack of mention of the political challenges confronting any real legislative exercise to address these and other pressing economic priorities.  We know it is going to be difficult but to know that Members of both parties are eager to work on legislation does give one a sense of hope that the current Congress may not be a policy black-hole.

I am also heartened by the administration’s determination to see progress on affordable housing issues.  An industry working group has convened to work on a list of regulatory issues that might be presented to the administration for their consideration.  This includes several provisions currently included in the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act.  The administration is also very focused on programs that were passed within the Inflation Reduction Act (Page 105) that could provide resources to affordable housing developments for green infrastructure, appliances and materials.  They are very eager to have the industry take advantage of these programs.

Finally, I had the opportunity to host our Senate champion, Maria Cantwell, at a discussion in Boston recently.  She is frustrated with the lack of action on affordable housing legislation and thus, determined to see progress. No one has been more dogged in fighting for resources in Congress and she is working with us to both increase support for the LIHTC and seek a way to get some of the resource provisions addressed in 2023.  We will be discussing the next version of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act with her and the other lead sponsors soon.  We discussed the challenges of comprehensive bills in the current congress, but we are all determined to address the myriad of issues confronting low-income and middle-income folks seeking housing. The Senator will be making the rounds nationally, including trips to Los Angeles and San Francisco on March 20, so I encourage you to attend one of these events (reach out to me if interested) and provide feedback on what you are seeing in the industry.

As always thank you for your support and for being ambassadors for affordable housing. There is so much going on and without your support, success would not be possible so keep up the outreach to your elected representatives at the local, state and federal levels.

Be well.

David