Members of Congress are back in their offices on Capitol Hill, with just days to reach an agreement on a final fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending bill for HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. Congress must pass the final bill or another short-term continuing resolution (CR) to buy more time by January 19 or risk a government shutdown. Members are also continuing negotiations over a potential tax package that could include key reforms to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) that would enable the program to better serve renters with the most urgent affordable housing needs. Your advocacy continues to be needed to ensure that Congress enacts a final FY24 spending bill that fully funds affordable housing and homelessness programs and includes reforms to LIHTC in any tax package!
Take Action!
Advocates should contact their members of Congress TODAY and urge them to act immediately to help address the housing crisis by:
- Finalizing an FY24 appropriations bill for HUD that provides significant funding increases to HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs, including:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA/Housing Choice Voucher) and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) programs.
- Increased funding for public housing operations and repairs.
- At minimum, the Senate’s proposed $3.9 billion in funding for Homeless Assistance Grants.
- Protecting the $20 million in funding for the Eviction Prevention Grant Program provided in the Senate bill.
- The House’s proposed $1.1 billion in funding for Native housing.
- Including key reforms to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) in the upcoming tax bill so the nation’s largest source of federal financing for affordable housing can better serve rural and tribal areas, as well as those most at risk of homelessness. These bipartisan reforms – included in the “Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act,” endorsed by over 230 members of Congress – would:
- Expand the Extremely Low-Income (ELI) Basis Boost for housing developments that set aside at least 20% of units for households with extremely low incomes or those experiencing homelessness.
- Designate Tribal and rural communities as “Difficult Development Areas” (DDAs), which would make it more financially feasible for developers to build affordable homes in these areas.
National, state, local, Tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,100 organizations on a national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY24.
Background
Congressional leaders reached an agreement on a topline funding number for FY24 appropriations over the weekend, after months of threats and stalemate from far-right members of the House who were calling for steeper spending cuts to the annual spending bill. There are only 8 days – until January 19 – for Congress to reach an agreement on a final FY24 spending bill for HUD. Failure to reach an agreement, or to pass another continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal funding, will result in a partial shutdown of the federal government.
NLIHC is calling on Congress to provide greater funding increases for HUD in FY24, particularly for HUD’s vital Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. According to a recent analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), because of the drastic increase in the cost of rent over the last year, neither the House nor Senate draft bills provide sufficient funding to renew all existing HCV contracts. Under the Senate proposal, as many as 80,000 fewer households would receive needed assistance, and under the House funding level, roughly 112,000 fewer households would receive assistance.
In separate negotiations, leaders of the House and Senate tax committees have made progress on a tax deal, which reportedly totals around $60 billion and includes retroactive extensions to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and several business tax breaks. While the bill does not currently include important reforms to LIHTC, there is still a possibility that these reforms will be added to a final tax bill. This package represents the last opportunity to reform LIHTC until 2025, when many provisions of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017” expire. LIHTC is the nation’s largest source of federal financing for affordable housing development but on its own rarely serves people with the lowest incomes. NLIHC is advocating for needed reforms to the program so that it better serves people with extremely low incomes and better facilitates the construction of affordable housing in rural and Tribal areas.
Thank you for your advocacy!