- The Build Back Better legislation was amended this week to incorporate several major Low Income Housing Tax Credit provisions, which had been removed from previous versions of the bill. The current legislation now includes $12 billion for the Housing Credit, including several major reforms sought by housing advocates: Lowering the bond-financing threshold from 50% to 25 percent for five years, increasing the annual Housing Credit allocation and tying it to inflation, and providing a permanent 50% basis boost for properties serving extremely low-income households. AHTCC has a helpful summary of the bill here.
- The House is expected to vote on the $1.9 trillion Build Back Better legislation and $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill later today, though some House moderates continue to seek a delay. Prospects for Build Back Better remain uncertain in the Senate, after House Democrats added provisions on paid family leave and other issues that have been previously rejected by key moderates, including Senate Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia).
- The $2 trillion Build Back Better Act passed out of the House of Representatives today, the 19th, by a vote of 220-213, and the bill now moves to the Senate. The legislation, H.R. 5376, includes more than $160 billion for affordable housing, including $63 billion for the preservation of public housing, $25 billion for rental assistance, and $15 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund.
- The bill also includes the largest expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit since its inception in 1986 and would finance an estimated 812,000 affordable rental homes over the next decade. According to the Novogradac, its $12 billion in investments in the Housing Credit are expected to create over 1.2 million jobs, $137 billion in wages and business income, and $47 billion in tax revenue.
