When Community Development Solutions of Washington, D.C. signed on to endorse NLIHC’s proposal to fund the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) through housing tax reform, the number of endorsing organizations reached 500. All fifty states and the District of Columbia are represented among the endorsers.

NLIHC proposes to make improvements to current housing tax policy that provides tax breaks to homeowners who pay mortgage interest. NLIHC would lower the cap to $500,000 on the size of mortgages for which interest can be deducted and convert the deduction to a non-refundable tax credit. At a 20% credit, the number of homeowners who would receive a tax benefit would increase by 18 million, 92% of whom have incomes of $100,000 or less.

These changes would yield considerable new revenue that NLIHC proposes be used to create a permanent dedicated source of revenue for the NHTF. The goal of the NHTF Campaign is to expand affordable housing options for extremely low income households by 3.5 million over ten years.

There is a growing consensus that the value of the mortgage interest deduction for upper income households should be reduced in order to raise revenues for to reduce the deficit. The challenge for low income housing advocates is to make sure that a substantial portion of the savings be used to address unmet housing needs. Endorsing NLIHC’s proposal is one way for housing advocates to express that position.

Click here to add your organization to the list of endorsers.

Click here for more information on NLIHC’s proposal (PDF).