Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced on October 11 the “Seniors Housing Tax Credit Act” (S.3580), a bill to create a new tax credit to help make housing affordable to extremely low income senior households. According to the Senator’s press release announcing the bill’s introduction, the legislation would provide dollar-for-dollar tax credits to housing providers who rent to extremely low income seniors.
Under Senator Heller’s proposal, tax credits would be allocated to each state, which would then award those credits to owners and developers who rent properties to extremely low income seniors. Eligible households would pay no more than 30 percent of their incomes for rent and utilities, and the housing providers would receive the tax credit as “compensation for any potential loss.”
Senator Heller’s bill is the most recent in a series of bold, innovative proposals to address the growing affordable housing crisis in America. Senator Warren has introduced the “American Housing and Economic Mobility Act,” the core of which would invest $445 billion in the national Housing Trust Fund to address the underlying cause of the affordable housing crisis – the severe shortage of rental homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) have introduced the “Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity (HOME) Act” and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced the “Rent Relief Act” – both of which would provide tax relief directly to housing cost-burdened households.
All of the proposals that have been introduced would help bridge the widening gap between incomes and housing costs to help renters who face impossible choices between paying rent and meeting their other basic needs, like putting groceries on the table and taking care of their health.
Text for the “Seniors Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act” (S.3580) is available at: https://bit.ly/2IZ9QOH
The press release from Senator Heller is at: https://bit.ly/2yEF60I
Learn about other renters’ tax credit proposals at: https://bit.ly/2J558yW