CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Legislative Update

May 6, 2015

In a March 2, 2015, Broadcast E-mail, CARH notified members that legislation had been introduced in the House to make permanent the Housing Credit floor. Yesterday, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) introduced identical legislation in the Senate.

S. 1193, and the companion legislation H.R. 1142, would permanently establish a fixed nine percent (for new rental construction property) and four percent (for existing property) Housing Credits.  The bill would apply to buildings placed in service after Dec. 31, 2014.

As CARH members know, The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) set a fixed floor rate for the 9 percent Housing Credit.  The Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, which passed at the end of the last Congress, extended the fixed floor rate for the 9% credit through the end of 2014.  However, due to passage of the legislation in December, there were very few owners or developers who could use this flat rate because allocations of tax credits had already been made using a variable rate.  For a majority, it would not be feasible for transactions to be resubmitted with the fixed rate.

CARH members are urged to contact their Senators and Representatives to ask them to cosponsor and support both S. 1193 and H.R. 1142, if they haven’t already done so.

Cosponsors of S. 1193 include:

Cosponsors of H.R. 1142 include:

*Indicates original cosponsor

If you have any questions, please contact CARH at 703-837-9001 or carh@carh.org.