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A bipartisan group of legislators from the U.S. Senate<\/strong> and House of Representatives<\/strong> have introduced a new bill, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA), which could help spur the construction of two million affordable housing<\/a> units over the next 10 years. <\/p>\n The bill has been introduced in both chambers and seeks to expand the low-income housing tax credit.<\/p>\n If passed, the bill would accomplish these goals through three primary methods: by increasing the number of credits allowed to each state by 50% over the next two years; by increasing the number of affordable housing projects that can be built using private activity bonds; and improving the Housing Credit program to better serve at-risk and underserved communities.<\/p>\n Communities that could qualify as \u201cat-risk\u201d or \u201cunderserved\u201d include veterans, domestic violence victims, formerly homeless students, certain Native American communities and rural residents.<\/p>\n The effort is being led by House members Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.). In the House, the bill has more than 60 bipartisan co-sponsors. Taking point on the measure in the Senate is Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).<\/p>\n In the House, the bill is designated as H.R. 3238<\/a> while the Senate version is S. 1557<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAffordable housing is vital for families throughout Illinois and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit continues to be an important tool to drive investment in the affordable rental housing market,” said Rep. LaHood in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis bipartisan bill will modernize the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and help expand our housing supply, strengthening communities and supporting economic development in Illinois and across the county.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Cantwell \u2014 whose state recently took action on its housing priorities through state-level legislation<\/a> \u2014 added that the core priority is to address housing costs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation would increase the federal resources allocated to each state, cut the red tape that hinders financing for workforce housing, better serve people most in need, and ultimately add more than 64,000 affordable units to Washington\u2019s housing stock over the next decade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n