On Friday, January 30th, the Coalition signed on to an industry letter encouraging the Senate to include critical Housing Credit provisions in their stimulus bill. The letter expressed support for including four provisions in the Senate version of the stimulus bill:
- $5 billion in dedicated funding to be allocated through state Housing Credit allocating agencies for the sole purpose of filling financing gaps in developments to which Housing Credits are awarded but cannot raise any equity capital or have generated too little equity with their sale of Housing Credits to make the development financial viable.
- Permit Housing Credit allocating agencies to exchange a portion of their 2009 Housing Credits for cash grants that could be used as a temporary measure to provide gap financing necessary to augment the appropriated funding described above and to be used for the same purpose.
- Allow taxpayers to elect to accelerate the Housing Credit by up to 200 percent per year for each of the first three years of the ten-year Credit period.
- Permit taxpayers to carryback the Housing Credit for up to five years and allow these Housing Credits to offset AMT liability during that period.
The carryback provision is currently included in the Senate economic stimulus package while the exchange proposal is currently included in the House version. Several members of the Senate Finance Committee are working to include an amendment that would allow for the accelerated Credit.
AHTCC was joined by over 30 national, regional, and local organizations on this sign-on letter. AHTCC will continue to work with its supporters on the Hill to achieve these priorities and will keep its members informed as the stimulus packages move through Congress.