NYHC Federal Housing Advocacy

Federal advocacy to protect and expand vital housing funding will be critical this year. Visit this page to see the latest federal campaigns and to support our efforts. We’ll continue updating and adding more content.

Federal Housing Sign-On!

Sign-on to our letter calling on our NY Congressional delegation to protect and expand federal housing resources including HUD programs and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Use the form below to add your organization to the letter.

See the text of the letter below or the pdf draft attached here.

Dear Members of the New York Congressional Delegation,  

The New York Housing Conference and the undersigned organizations write to urge you to protect and expand federal housing resources that are crucial to keeping constituents all over this state stably housed – including HUD programs and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

This Congress and Administration were elected by voters who were overwhelmingly motivated by economic concerns. However, while housing costs are the main driver of inflation and a household’s greatest expense, we have seen no meaningful federal action to lower housing costs. In the meantime, the affordable housing crisis is worsening by the day, driving up homelessness and creating a mounting cost burden for families in every state. The nationwide housing shortage is estimated to have reached 4.5 million homes. Nowhere in the country can a full-time minimum-wage worker afford a two-bedroom rental. In New York, renters need to make almost $45 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental – $53 per hour if they live in the New York City Metro Area. And in every single region across New York state, more than 40 percent of renters are cost burdened – paying at least 30% of their income on rent.

Federal tools are the most important resource for maintaining housing stability and financing new affordable housing in this country and they must continue to play a key role in solving our housing crisis. HUD programs already keep 1,069,400 New Yorkers stably housed, including over 1 million living in cities and suburbs, and over 50,000 in rural areas and small towns. They primarily serve seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities, and low-income working families in your districts – all of whom will be at risk of homelessness if these programs are not adequately funded. This includes Section 8 tenant and project based rental assistance, public housing programs, supportive housing for the elderly and people with disabilities, McKinney-Vento, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS. Programs such as the Community Development Block Grant, the HOME Investment Partnership and the Housing Trust Fund help add affordable housing supply but each of the HUD programs address critical local housing needs. As Congress looks to finalize a FY25 budget and beyond, the New York Delegation must not only reject calls to cut HUD programs that would disproportionately impact your constituents, but seek the highest level of funding possible to ensure they continue to remain viable.

Further, tax negotiations present Congress with the opportunity to unlock vital financing for affordable housing developments that will produce and preserve high-quality, below-market-rate homes for years to come. Since its creation, the LIHTC program has built or preserved 4 million homes. In New York, it’s financed over 270,000 homes to serve 635,000 low-income families, supported over 460,000 jobs and generated billions of dollars in economic activity and tax revenue.

Congress should exempt affordable housing from state volume cap of tax-exempt private activity bonds for the next decade to turbo charge affordable housing production by passing the ASAP Housing Act. Any tax package must at minimum:

1. Lower the “50 percent test” to 25 percent to decrease the amount of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs) needed to access the 4 percent Housing Credit and
2. Extend the 12.5 percent increase to the 9 percent Housing Credit that was allowed to expire.

These simple tax modifications are a direct pipeline toward creating a more robust housing safety net for the millions of households across the country struggling to keep a roof over their heads. They also enjoy bipartisan support as provisions of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2024, which has 274 bipartisan co-sponsors in the U.S. House and 35 in the Senate. A version of these reforms was also passed by the House in the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act just last year.

The elimination of tax-exempt private activity bonds is being considered on a list of potential “pay-for” proposals in a budget reconciliation bill. Eliminating this crucial tool is shortsighted and would only exacerbate the affordability crisis for working families all over this country.

Congress must continue to invest in affordable housing if we ever hope to address the housing crisis at scale. We need both immediate assistance for low-income New Yorkers and long-term solutions for greater creation and preservation of affordable housing projects, which will not only address the affordable housing crisis but create jobs and boost economic vitality in the process. You cannot let this opportunity pass by.

Sincerely,

ACMH, Inc.
Albany Housing Coalition, Inc.
ANHD
Ardent Construction & Dev Inc.
Better Community Neighborhoods, Inc. (BCNI)
Breaking Ground
Bronx Pro Group
Building Blocks Together Dev Corp.
The Building & Realty Institute of Westchester
Center for NYC Neighborhoods
Chhaya Community Development Corporation
Christ Church UCC – Bronx Multi-Faith Advisory Group
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Council
CJA Business Advisers LLC
Comunilife
Community League of the Heights, Inc CLOTH
Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP
Dattner Architects
Fifth Avenue Committee
FLACRA
Forsyth Street Advisors
Geel Community Services, Inc.
Gotham Organization
Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County
The Health & Housing Consortium
Hirschen Singer & Epstein LLP
Hope Community, Inc
Housing Action Council
Joy Construction
K2New Business Development and Marketing Strategy
Leviticus 25:23 Alternative Fund, Inc.
L+M Development Partners
Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF)
MBD Community Housing Corp.
Milestone Development LLC
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter, Inc.
Neighborhood Restore HDFC
New Destiny Housing
Newman Design Architects PLLC
New York Housing Conference
The NRP Group
NYAH Advisors, LLC
Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
RiseBoro Community Partnership
Settlement Housing Fund, Inc.
Service for the Underserved
SKA Marin
St. Augustine Presbyterian Church
St. Francis Friends of the Poor
Supportive Housing Network of New York
UAI
University Neighborhood Housing Program
Vecino Group
VIP Community Services
Volunteers of America-Greater New York
WellLife Network Inc.
West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing
Win
YWCA Binghamton & Broome County