Viewpoint: Congress could make simple budget bill tweak to speed up Va.’s affordable housing development

Virginia has an affordable housing crisis fundamentally rooted in a shortage of units — in fact, there is a shortage of 150,000 affordable homes for low-income residents. A surprising culprit for that shortage is the structure of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. Despite this program financing most of America’s affordable housing construction, an archaic and arbitrary regulation is one of the main barriers to addressing Virginia’s housing shortage — and it is low-income households paying the price.

Fortunately, Congress appears poised to make a simple tweak that will fix this broken program and unlock a wave of new resources to produce and preserve the affordable housing Virginia needs. Now that the fix is included in the budget reconciliation bill, Congress needs to ensure it remains a part of the final package. Doing so will help address America’s housing affordability crisis and help struggling Virginians get back on their feet.

Read Full Article