Alliance for Housing Justice and Poverty & Race Research Action Council Release New Toolkit for State-Level LIHTC Advocacy

The Alliance for Housing Justice (AHJ) and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) have released “Moving LIHTC Towards Social Housing,” a toolkit for advocates working for tenant-focused reforms within the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.  The toolkit focuses on how to do advocacy at the state level.  While LIHTC is a federal program administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury with requirements that all states must follow, state allocating agencies create priorities and selection criteria, and publish them annually in a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). 

The toolkit outlines challenges and shortcomings of LIHTC and shows how advocates can work with their state allocating agencies and other stakeholders to make improvements. The recommended reforms are based on the principles of social housing, defined in the toolkit as “permanently and deeply affordable, especially to those most in need; is under community control; and most importantly, exists outside of the speculative real estate market. Social housing can exist in different forms including public housing, land trusts, and resident co-ops.”  

State-level QAP reforms in the toolkit include:   

• Increasing affordability periods, 
• Increasing nonprofit ownership/management, 
• Protecting tenants’ Right of First Refusal (ROFR), 
• Protecting against high rent increases and eviction, and 
• Supporting tenant organizing and engagement. 

NLIHC supports many of the reforms outlined in this toolkit, including those that strengthen tenant and applicant rights, and preserve the long-term affordability of LIHTC properties. 

In addition to state-level advocacy, there is also an opportunity to reform LIHTC at the national level. Congress will be working on significant tax reform this year, which presents a meaningful opportunity to directly address the housing crisis by expanding the supply of affordable rental homes and increasing housing affordability for those with the greatest, clearest needs: people with extremely low incomes who face the highest risk of housing instability and homelessness. 

NLIHC supports critical reforms to LIHTC to better serve households with the greatest needs. Any expansion of LIHTC must include reforms to better serve extremely low-income and other marginalized households, including those experiencing or at risk of homelessness and rural and Tribal communities.  

 More information about LIHTC is on page 5-6 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.