As wrinkles in major tax legislation are being ironed out in the House, key members of the Ways and Means Committee, including Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Suzan DelBene, D–Wash., are co-sponsoring the reintroduction of affordable housing legislation that was announced Tuesday.
"The overwhelming bipartisan support for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025 underscores the critical need to increase the supply of affordable rental homes," said Emily Cadik, CEO of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition.
"We thank the bill's sponsors for their leadership and the more than 100 bipartisan House cosponsors for supporting this commonsense solution to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit."
Variations of the legislation have been working their way through Congress since 2016. The current version seeks to loosen restrictions on Low Income Housing Tax Credits which now require that 50% of a project's financing comes through private activity bonds.
The bill cuts the percentage to 25%, which advocates believe would boost efficiency in PAB usage and spur private investment in affordable housing development.
Approved projects would carry less debt, and more projects would be eligible to receive funding.
The federal government maintains a cap on PAB issuance per state and many states are oversubscribed every year.
The new version of the legislation would Increase the number of credits allocated to each state by 50% for the next two years and make a temporary 12.5% increase secured in 2018 permanent.
Tax legislation requires a stop at the House Ways and Means Committee and the AHCIA has that box checked with two members as cosponsors.
"This overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation makes smart, targeted investments to increase affordable housing supply and help meet the needs of growing communities in Washington and elsewhere," said Rep. DelBene.
"To address this growing crisis across the country, Congress must strengthen tools to drive investment into affordable workforce housing and expand housing options for hardworking families nationwide," said Rep. LaHood.
"Expanding the Housing Credit is the most effective way to increase the supply of affordable housing, leveraging public-private partnerships to build and preserve homes for working families, seniors, and vulnerable communities," said Ayrianne Parks, senior director of public policy at Enterprise Community partners and Jennifer Schwartz, director of tax and housing policy at the National Council of State Housing Agencies.
The Trump administration is leaning toward increasing private investment in the housing sector and nominated Bill Pulte, scion of William J. Pulte, founder of the PulteGroup, one of the largest production homebuilders in the U.S, to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The position puts Pulte in charge of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises that have been run under federal conservatorship since 2008.
President Trump has signaled the possibility of ending the conservatorship and allowing the GSEs to become private enterprises again.
