Bill Text: HI HCR202 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The United States Congress To Support The Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 22-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-03-27 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Belatti, Ganaden, Kapela, La Chica, Nakashima, Nishimoto, Sayama, Tam, Todd excused (9). [HCR202 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-HCR202-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	202
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the united states congress to support the workforce housing tax credit act.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, communities across the United States are facing a housing affordability crisis; and

 

     WHEREAS, as housing prices continue to rise, more and more middle-class Americans find themselves opting for suitable rental housing as opposed to owning; and

 

     WHEREAS, the existing supply for apartment housing has not kept up with this recent increase in demand, resulting in higher rental costs; and

 

     WHEREAS, unable to afford these elevated rental rates or to qualify for low-income housing tax credit developments, housing has become a significant challenge for many middle-class American families; and

 

     WHEREAS, on December 7, 2023, the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act was introduced in the United States Congress; and

 

     WHEREAS, the purpose of the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act is to increase the supply of affordable housing for middle‑income families who earn too much to qualify for low‑income affordable housing and not enough to afford housing near where they work; and

 

     WHEREAS, designed to work alongside the existing low-income housing tax credit, the workforce housing tax credit would provide additional federal income tax credits to housing development projects for tenants earning between sixty and one hundred percent of the area median income; and

 

     WHEREAS, the workforce housing tax credit adopts key features from the low-income housing tax credit, including the deference to state and local housing authorities to select projects that are best suited to their local housing needs, and using public-private partnerships to catalyze private capital; and

 

     WHEREAS, considerable flexibility is also provided to the states to maximize their resources and best meet community needs by allowing housing finance agencies to transfer their workforce housing tax credit allocation to low-income housing tax credits at any time and allowing affordable housing buildings to combine the two credits; and

 

     WHEREAS, to qualify for the tax credit, at least sixty percent of the units in a proposed development must be occupied by individuals earning one hundred percent or less of the area median income, and the rents are restricted to thirty percent of the designated income; and

 

     WHEREAS, the affordability restrictions would remain in place for up to fifteen years after an initial fifteen-year compliance period, for a total thirty-year affordability period; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is estimated that the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Program could finance the development of 344,000 rental homes over a ten-year period; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the Senate concurring, that the United States Congress is urged to support the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress and the members of Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act; Housing Affordability for Middle-Income Families