News

By Monica Hogan, Inside Mortgage Finance

A bipartisan group of House members last week reintroduced legislation that would offer tax incentives to support the creation or substantial rehabilitation of 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next 10 years. The sponsors of H.R. 3940, the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, are Reps. Mike Kelly, R-PA, and Mike Higgins, D-NY. Co-sponsors include Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, Dan Kildee, D-MI, Randy Feenstra, R-IA, and Dwight Evans, D-PA.

By Andy Medici, The Business Journals

Developers and builders could benefit from a new $2 billion tax credit to renovate or build affordable housing under recently introduced federal legislation. The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act would create a tax credit to cover the value between the cost of buying and renovating or building a property in a low-income area and the sales price, potentially creating 500,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.

By Patrick Sisson, The New York Times

Erika Velez considers herself lucky. A 31 year old single mother in San Antonio, she had been struggling to find a place to live since last June, when she fell behind on rent and spent months bouncing between sleeping on friends’ couches and in her car. Then in November she received a call that brought tears to her eyes: A two bedroom house at Mirasol Townhomes, a public housing development of townhouses and single family homes, had opened up for just $675 a month.

The Republic

Affordable homes and expanded opportunities for homeownership in Columbus, Franklin, Seymour, North Vernon and other communities around the state and nation could get a boost from bipartisan legislation in Congress that aims to spur investment in a housing market desperate for starter homes. A broad coalition of public and private sector groups and businesses from Habitat for Humanity and the Urban League to Rocket Mortgage and the National Association of Realtors have thrown their support behind the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA), co-authored by Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland.

By Eric C. Peck, DSNews

Reps. Mike Kelly and Brian Higgins have introduced legislation to create a new tax incentive that would produce 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next decade. The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (H.R. 3940) would address the needs of families throughout the country who are struggling to purchase homes as costs continue to rise and the supply of homes remains limited.

Rep. Mike Kelly

Today, U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Brian Higgins (D-NY) introduced legislation to create a new tax incentive that would produce 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next decade.

Neighborhood Homes Coalition

Today, Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Brian Higgins (D-NY) introduced legislation to create a new tax incentive that would produce 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next decade.

By Chuck Slothower, Law360

Affordable housing lenders and investors in California said the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has been muted to date, but cautioned that the lender's role would be tough to fill. SVB was a major lender in affordable housing, and its failure leaves a void, said Ari Beliak, president and CEO of Merritt Community Capital Corp., a nonprofit investment firm based in Oakland.

By Valentina Pasquali, Law360

With his budget blueprint for the next fiscal year, President Joe Biden pitched Thursday a host of investments to increase low-income Americans' access to affordable housing, while again seeking to eliminate a tax provision that real estate pros frequently take advantage of as part of their transactions.

By John Doe, The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is reviving efforts to spur the renovation of single-family homes in blighted neighborhoods, the latest effort to dent a long-term national housing shortage. Legislation introduced in the Senate aims to create a new tax credit to cover a developer’s costs when the renovation of a crumbling building exceeds a home’s potential selling price, so the project becomes feasible.