Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, introduced the “Boosting Tax Credits for Accessible Housing Act” (S.3925) in the U.S. Senate. The bill is a stand-alone provision taken from Senator Casey’s “Visitable Inclusive Tax Credits for Accessible Living (VITAL) Act” (S.1377), which was introduced in the Senate last year (see Memo 5/1/2023). NLIHC has endorsed the new bill.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the largest source of federal funding for the creation of affordable housing. However, people with disabilities continue to face housing accessibility issues. A HUD study in 2011 found that fewer than 1% of housing units in the U.S. are accessible to wheelchair users and fewer than 5% of units are accessible to people with mobility difficulties. The “Boosting Tax Credits for Accessible Housing Act” would address the shortage of accessible housing by providing a basis boost of 150% to LIHTC projects that meet certain standards to serve people with disabilities. Projects that receive the basis boost would be required to meet design standards as defined in the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS).
Read the “Boosting Tax Credits for Accessible Housing Act” here.
Learn more about the variation in accessible housing standards across the U.S., as well as disability-forward LIHTC reforms, in a fact sheet by The Kelsey.