Despite the lack of significant momentum on housing issues from government leaders this year, members in the U.S. House of Representatives from both major political parties have come together to introduce multiple housing-related bills.
Two bills in particular are aimed at boosting housing supply and improving prices for buyers and renters. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Penn.) and John Larson (D-Conn.) reintroduced the “Neighborhood Homes Investment Act” (NHIA), a bill that would seek to establish a tax incentive for the construction and preservation of an estimated 500,000 affordable, single-family homes for homeownership over a period of ten years, with a focus on under-resourced communities.
“Tax credits would be awarded to project sponsors through statewide competitions administered by state housing finance agencies,” Rep. Kelly’s office said in an announcement. “Sponsors, which could include developers, lenders, or local governments, would use the credits to raise capital for their projects, and investors would claim the credits against their federal income taxes.”
Earlier this week, Reps. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) reintroduced the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act on Tuesday, which would raise the number of credits allocated to each state by 50% for the next two years and make the temporary 12.5% increase — originally secured in 2018 — permanent.
“These credits have already helped build more than 59,000 additional affordable housing units nationwide,” Rep. LaHood’s office explained. The bill also seeks to increase “the number of affordable housing projects that can be built using private activity bonds.”
That provision aims to “stabilize financing for workforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity needed to secure Housing Credit funding,” LaHood’s office said. “As a result, projects would have to carry less debt, and more projects would be eligible to receive funding.”
This bill has 118 co-sponsors, evenly split between 59 Democrats and Republicans each.
Housing groups lauded the introduction of both bills.
“The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act is a smart solution that will seed thriving communities, attract thousands of jobs, and unlock new economic potential — after all, homes are where jobs go to live,” said Sarah Brundage, president and CEO of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders.
Adding to the praise is David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC).
“Over the next decade, NHIA can support the creation of hundreds of thousands of homes where it’s needed most,” Dworkin said. “NHIA is one of the top priorities of the National Housing Conference. We are committed to working with policymakers and stakeholders to advance this vital, bipartisan legislation.”
Later in the day on Thursday, Reps. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) and Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) also introduced the “Housing Supply Frameworks Act,” which “directs the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop frameworks for best practices on zoning and land-use policies,” according to an announcement from Rep. Flood’s office. “The legislation also provides local and state governments with the necessary resources to confront barriers to housing development and construction.”
The bill is described as both bipartisan and bicameral, meaning it has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. In the upper chamber, the companion bill was introduced by Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Fetterman (D-Penn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Flood this week also announced a joint effort with Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) to begin a public listening program to hear what the public feels works — and doesn’t — about two particular programs from HUD: the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) programs.
There has also been renewed movement on the controversial topic of trigger leads, as noted in a Thursday HousingWire report by Sarah Wolak detailing the reintroduction of the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act.
Bipartisanship remains the most assured path forward for all of these proposals, presuming the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader choose to bring the measures to the floors of their chambers for votes. While both chambers of Congress maintain Republican majorities, they are both historically thin, often dooming bills rooted in partisan priorities despite the presence of a Republican president.
But the White House also remains an outlier. While it’s unclear whether or not President Donald Trump would support any of these measures, a priority to lower housing and living costs made it into a day one executive order from the president in January.
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