AHCIA Receives Support; Insurance Issues Reach Critical Importance

Congress is out for its annual July 4th recess and will not return to Capitol Hill until the week of July 10th. We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) and another significant issue we are addressing in Washington, DC.

We are pleased with the strong bipartisan, bicameral support for the AHCIA. The House bill (HR. 3238) currently has 114 cosponsors evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, and the Senate bill (S. 1557) has 20 cosponsors, also evenly divided between the parties. This is significant progress that will help us stay positioned for inclusion in an appropriate legislative vehicle later this year. But we need your help to continue the strong momentum and garner as much support as possible. There are queues of Democrats in the House and Senate waiting to get on each of the bills, but we need companion Republicans to join them, so please assist us by advocating with your Republican representatives to sign onto the AHCIA.

Meetings on the Hill have been very positive, and AHCIA supporters of both parties are determined to pass a tax bill this year which would include some of the provisions of the AHCIA. We recently met with Senators Cantwell (D-WA), King (I-ME) and Warner (D-VA), all of whom expressed their desire to get housing provisions addressed this year. In addition, in meetings with President Biden’s economic team, White House staff expressed a commitment to push for affordable housing provisions should a tax vehicle present itself this year.

While Members of Congress are back home, please contact them to thank them for cosponsoring the AHCIA, or if they have yet to sign on, please ask them to become a cosponsor. During July, we will be particularly focused on House and Senate Republicans who have not cosponsored the AHCIA. If you have properties in any of their districts states, we urge you to reach out to them. 

Another issue of importance to the industry is the increased difficulty in securing affordable property, casualty, and liability insurance. The HAG has been engaged in conversations with many of our members, colleagues in industry trade associations, and insurance practitioners around the country for some time on this issue and the industry is coalescing around a strategy to address insurance costs and availability. 

As we discussed the issue, we acknowledged any remedy would be difficult, as a niche market such as affordable housing would not carry the weight with policymakers and regulators that a risk to the broader economy would. Then, major insurers Allstate and State Farm announced they were withdrawing from major markets. This has elevated the issue significantly and presented us with an opportunity to raise the issue as a direct threat to affordable housing production. We also have an excellent White Paper drafted by Thom Amdur of Lincoln Avenue Capital which spells out the issue in detail. 

We began our advocacy on the issue this past week in meetings we arranged at the White House with the Council of Economic Advisors and National Economic Council staff and on Capitol Hill to brief congressional leaders on the issue. Each meeting was met with a commitment to work with the industry on the issue and to consider potential solutions.

Our efforts to secure more resources and maintain the vitality of affordable housing production are a testament to the support and efforts of our HAG members and industry colleagues, and we are most appreciative.