Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, introduced the “Visitable Inclusive Tax Credits for Accessible Living (VITAL) Act” (S.1377) on April 27. The bill would address the housing affordability and accessibility crisis for people with disabilities by increasing the overall funding for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program and encouraging development of accessible housing for seniors and people with disabilities. NLIHC endorsed the bill and looks forward to working with its sponsors to further refine the bill to ensure greater affordability standards for people with disabilities.
The LIHTC program is a federal program providing tax credits to developers who build new housing for low-income renters. According to a 2011 HUD study, fewer than 6% of housing units are designed to be accessible. (Accessible homes typically offer specific features and technologies, such as lowered kitchen counters and sinks, widened doorways, grab bars, and no step showers.) The VITAL Act seeks to address the problem by increasing the overall funding for LIHTC, increasing funding for accessible developments, requiring states to set aside at least 20% of units for people with disabilities and in walkable or rollable neighborhoods, establishing LIHTC resource centers for nonprofit developers, and creating a national housing advisory council on national LIHTC trends and best practices.
Read Senator Casey’s press release on the bill at: https://bit.ly/40LM0fx
Read a fact sheet on the bill at: https://bit.ly/3ADbKAs
Read the bill text and see a list of cosponsors at: https://bit.ly/44cHBoR