Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

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Good news about the Low Income Housing Tax Credit! Low Income Housing Tax Credits provide a critical source of funding for affordable homes across Washington State. Need a primer on the Housing Credit? Revisit this guest post from last year.

Reports are coming out of D.C. that long sought-after legislation to improve the Low Income Housing Tax Credit may be moving to the floor in coming months.

This legislation, which is central to producing and preserving affordable housing, comes at a crucial time. Last week, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies released their 2014 State of the Nation’s Housing stating that nearly 20 million Americans are spending at least half of their household income on rental costs alone.

Representatives Jim McDermott, Dave Reichert, Adam Smith, and Suzan DelBene are all cosponsors of the legislation, HR 4717. In the Senate, the provisions have been included in the Senate’s Tax Extenders Legislation, S 2260, in large part thanks to the leadership of Senator Maria Cantwell, a long-time champion of the Housing Credit.

Members of Congress will be heading back home next week for the July 4th Congressional Recess. This is a perfect opportunity for you to take advantage of this momentum and help push this issue forward!

Please reach out to your members of Congress about this, especially if your representative isn’t a cosponsor. If you have any questions or would like some assistance, don’t hesitate to drop me a line (benm-at-wliha-dot-org) and let me know how the Housing Alliance can help. Don’t know who your representative is? Go here to find out.