Senator Hassan Cosponsors Bipartisan Bills to Expand and Preserve Affordable Housing Options
WASHINGTON – Senator Maggie Hassan cosponsored two bipartisan bills this week to expand affordable housing in New Hampshire and across the country by strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit while continuing investments in affordable housing. A recent report showed that New Hampshire ranks 12th worst in the country for rental housing affordability for workers, and another recent report found that for the sixth year in a row, rents have increased in the state.
“As the cost of living in New Hampshire continues to rise, hard-working families are spending more of their income on rent, leaving little room for essentials like groceries or back-to-school clothing,” Senator Hassan said. “These bipartisan bills will provide much-needed support to Granite Staters and Americans struggling to make rent by creating new affordable housing options, while maintaining those that already exist.”
The bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would expand and strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to produce more units of affordable housing and address the housing shortage that has plagued communities nationwide, including in New Hampshire.
Senator Hassan also signed onto the bipartisan Save Affordable Housing Act to close a loophole that currently allows owners of affordable housing property supported by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to convert reduced-price units into market rate units after just 15 years. This bipartisan bill would require that those properties remain affordable for at least 30 years, ensuring that more Americans can afford to live in those homes.
Earlier this month, Senator Hassan met with housing advocates, city officials, and affordable housing residents across the Granite State to discuss New Hampshire’s housing crisis. This year, Senator Hassan joined in reintroducing the Rent Relief Act to create a new, refundable tax credit to provide relief to families, and also joined introducing the bipartisan Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act, which aims to help policymakers better understand and respond to America’s housing affordability crisis by creating a bipartisan housing task force.
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