Low-income Housing Tax Credit Exchange Expansion And Job Creation Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

* Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Exchange Expansion and Job Creation Act of 2010,'' legislation combating the housing and unemployment crises.

* The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is the nation's largest and most successful affordable rental housing production program. It has financed more than two million homes since 1987 and about 120,000 annually in recent years. This program provides tax credits to developers who agree to build or rehabilitate affordable housing. It includes both ``9 percent'' credits, which state housing finance agencies can allocate in amounts up to a state-level ceiling, and ``4 percent'' credits, which are available to all developers who receive allocations of tax-exempt bonds to build rental housing.

* The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 contained a provision that enabled the temporary exchange of unusable low-income housing credits. This exchange has enabled more than 600 affordable housing developments to proceed around the country, providing affordable homes to more than 30,000 low-income families and creating more than 35,000 jobs. The ARRA provision allowed investors to exchange low-income housing credits for grants at 85 percent of the value of the credits at virtually no cost to the federal government. Unfortunately, this provision only applied to 9 percent housing credits.

* My legislation would expand this temporary credit exchange opportunity to include 4 percent credits. In 2007, prior to the financial markets crisis, states partnered with private developers using 4 percent housing credits to create nearly 70,000 rental homes affordable to low-income working Americans and 85,000 housing-related jobs. In 2008 and 2009, the number of affordable homes and jobs produced by the 4 percent credit program fell by nearly 50 percent as capital available for investment disappeared.

* I am introducing this bill because our country cannot afford to let this valuable 4 percent tax credit program fall into disuse due to the economy's downturn at a time when our country is in desperate need of more jobs and more affordable places for low-income families to live. Providing a safe and stable home gives families the critical foundation to find employment, get an education, and play an active role in their communities. Passage of this bill will allow cost effective investments leading to both more jobs and more housing for low-income working Americans and benefit our communities for years to come.

* I hope that you will join me in supporting this legislation.

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