NAHB Backs Tax Credit

Now pending in Congress - and funded in the president’s budget proposal for the fourth consecutive year - the Homeownership Tax Credit would increase homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. It would help bridge the gap between what it costs to build homes in lower-income neighborhoods and what buyers in those neighborhoods can afford to pay.

Modeled after the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program for rental housing, the Homeownership Tax Credit would give developers and investors a tax credit of up to 50% of the cost of constructing a new home or rehabilitating an existing property in a hard-to-develop area.

This would help provide affordable work-force housing, create 122,000 jobs, increase investment, stabilize neighborhoods and stimulate the economy by generating $2 billion of private equity investment and $6 billion of development activity annually.

Momentum is building in the legislation’s favor in Congress, and the NAHB will work for its passage.