“Due to the broad, bipartisan support now we have built for the LIHTCs, we consider there may be an actual opportunity to incorporate housing credit provisions within the forthcoming major tax laws,” said Emily Cadik, CEO, Reasonably priced Housing Tax Credit Coalition.

AHTC

The Trump administration is sending out signals about the way it intends to deal with the nation’s housing challenges with the muni community hyper-focused on expanding mortgage bonds and lowering the bond financing threshold needed to secure Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

“Due to the broad, bipartisan support now we have built for the LIHTCs, we consider there may be an actual opportunity to incorporate housing credit provisions within the forthcoming major tax laws,” said Emily Cadik, CEO, Reasonably priced Housing Tax Credit Coalition. 

The AHTCC champions the Reasonably priced Housing Credit Improvement Act which incorporates lowering the bond threshold needed to secure 4% LIHTCs that are a invaluable chip within the capital stack of inexpensive home constructing. 

The organization believes the change would allow states to make more efficient use of their bond volume caps and use the extra capability to finance cheaper housing. 

Greater than half of U.S. states are already fully using or oversubscribed on their bond cap. 

In a nod towards supporting the home-building industry, President-elect Trump nominated Bill Pulte to function the subsequent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. 

Pulte is a philanthropist and the founding father of Pulte Capital Partners, a personal equity firm. He’s also the grandson of the late homebuilding giant William Pulte and endorsed as a candidate by the National Association of Home Builders.  

The PulteGroup is one in every of the most important production homebuilders within the U.S. and includes income qualified, inexpensive housing in its product line.   

S&P Global Rankings issued a report last week projecting the outlook for the U.S. Public Finance Housing sector as stable. 

“S&P’s report is consistent with the most recent evaluation from all the most important rankings agencies that state housing finance agencies have continued to deliver inexpensive financing for home mortgage loans and apartment construction through the recent period of upper inflation and rates of interest,” said Stockton Williams, executive director, National Council of State Housing Agencies

“State HFAs are well positioned to play a key role in lowering housing costs for lots of of working families in 2025 through their issuance of tax-exempt housing bonds, which lead to mortgage rates 100 basis points or more below conventional options and particularly serve first-time buyers when combined with HFA down payment assistance.” 

The NCSHA is a key advocate of the Reasonably priced Housing Bond Enhancement Act which seeks to expand using mortgage revenue bonds and mortgage credit certificate programs. 

The upcoming debate over renewing the Tax Cuts and Job’s Act does raise concerns for the industry as spelled out in S&P’s report. 

“If there have been modification to, or elimination of, the municipal tax exemption as a part of the expected successor tax laws to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we consider that HFAs would likely need to think about substantially modifying their financing strategies and will now not depend on the web interest margin between the tax-exempt bonds issued and taxable loans originated to support their missions.”