
Bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers are advancing legislative efforts to address the worsening national shortage of affordable housing, with a focus on updating financing tools and expanding tax incentives.
Senate Legislation

- Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) introduced the bipartisan Housing Affordability Act (formerly Homeownership Affordability Act) to increase the supply of affordable housing by increasing the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) outdated multifamily loan limits. (PoliticoPro, April 30)
- “To tackle the affordable housing crisis, we need to make building homes easier and cheaper. But outdated regulations are holding us back,” said Senator Gallego. “By updating a nearly two-decade old loan limit, the Housing Affordability Act will expand access to affordable loans for building multifamily housing and ultimately bring down housing costs.” (Sen. Gallego Press Release, April 30)
- The bill updates the inflationary index used to set loan limits from the Consumer Price Index to a more accurate construction cost index to better reflect today’s building costs and boost housing production.
- Without this fix, most areas are misclassified as “high-cost,” limiting HUD’s ability to support new multifamily developments and deepening the national housing crisis.
- “Housing availability and affordability problems are directly tied to the significant shortage of housing units nationwide,” said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable.
- “By increasing the Federal Housing Administration’s multifamily loan limits to more accurately reflect individual market costs, the bill introduced today by Senators Gallego and McCormick would increase apartment construction, add supply, and help bring down housing costs. In short, enactment of this bill would make housing more available and affordable for millions of American families.”
- The Housing Affordability Act is also endorsed by: National Association of Home Builders; National Association of REALTORS®; National Multifamily Housing Council; National Housing Conference; National Apartment Association; Institute of Real Estate Management; National Affordable Housing Management Association; National Leased Housing Association Council for Affordable and Rural Housing; National Association of Housing Cooperatives; and Arizona Multihousing Association.
House Legislation

- In April, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) reintroduced The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) with broad bipartisan support from more than 100 members across 30 states, aimed to expand and strengthen the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC). (Affordable Housing Finance, April 8)
- The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act will support the financing of nearly two million new affordable homes by:
- Increasing the number of credits allocated to each state by 50 percent for the next two years and making the temporary 12.5 percent increase permanent.
- Increasing the number of affordable housing projects that can be built using private activity bonds— a provision that stabilizes financing for workforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity needed to secure Housing Credit funding.
- Improving the Housing Credit program to serve at-risk and underserved communities, including veterans, victims of domestic violence, and rural Americans.
- “To address this growing crisis across the country, Congress must strengthen tools to drive investment into affordable workforce housing and expand housing options for hardworking families nationwide. I am proud to reintroduce the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act alongside Representatives DelBene, Tenney, Beyer, Feenstra, and Panetta to strengthen our communities and support economic development,” said Rep. LaHood (R-IL). (Rep. LaHood Press Release, April 8)
- A Senate companion bill is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.
Opportunity Zones
- Major provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), including Opportunity Zones (OZs), risk expiration without congressional action, threatening economic revitalization projects nationwide.
- According to a recent CoStar News analysis, apartment openings in OZs surged 151% to 143,219 units last year compared to 2017—far outpacing the national increase of 63% over the same period. (CoStar, April 16)
- The analysis also found that Opportunity Zones spurred the development of approximately 68,000 more housing units than would have been built without the tax incentive, underscoring the effectiveness of OZ incentives in driving investment into underserved communities.
RER urges Congress to advance housing legislation that expands proven tools like Opportunity Zones, LIHTC, and FHA loan programs—catalysts for affordable housing, job creation, and long-term economic growth in underserved communities.