Message from Columbia Housing CEO Ivory N. Mathews

Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME), & Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) WEEK 4 August Advocacy is an incredibly important topic: LIHTC, HOME & CDBG, and Columbia Housing is ALL IN! As affordable housing ambassadors, we stand with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials in support of housing tax credits and community development resources. Congress and the Biden Administration must strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and increase funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

Our nation is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis. In June 2021, the Rosen Consulting Group estimated that the U.S. underbuilt housing by at least 5.5 million units over the past two decades. Housing construction would need to increase by more than 700,000 units per year to fill the gap in the next 10 years. The lack of overall housing supply is driving up the cost of housing in many communities, making it even harder for families to access affordable rental units and homeownership opportunities.

Housing tax credits are a critical part of the affordable housing solution. Since it began in 1986, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has developed and preserved over 3.5 million homes for more than 8 million low-income households. The credits leverage local investments in affordable housing. In over 30 years, LIHTC generated an estimated $617 billion in wages and business income. Through public-private partnerships, LIHTC not only builds new affordable units but is also a key to the preservation of existing units in many communities across the country.

Congress should improve LIHTC by making the following changes:

• Increase allocations by 50 percent over the current levels
• Increase the bond cap to provide states improved access to the 4% credit
• Include and prioritize rural, Native American, high-poverty, and high-cost communities
• Promote bonds for public housing preservation, excluding them from the overall cap
• Lower threshold of Private Activity Bond financing from 50 to 25 percent
• Allow for a longer rebuilding period after natural disasters, if necessary
• Allow for bond recycling

I invite you to join Columbia Housing in its community-wide CH Advocates for Affordable Housing Campaign. Help us urge Congress to invest in our community by strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and providing robust funding for the HOME Investments Partnership Program and Community Development Block Grants. All three programs are proven to increase affordable housing development while leveraging private funding and providing local flexibilities.