Renters' Credit

Off the Charts: New Renters’Credit Should Complement Existing Housing Development Credit

The paper on tax reform options that the Senate Finance Committee issued yesterday includes CBPP’s proposal for a renters’tax credit to help the poorest families afford housing. Such a credit would be a valuable complement to the existing Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

Here’s why.

Related Blog Posts:

• The Need to Rebalance Federal Housing Policy: Time for a Renters’Tax Credit
• The Need to Rebalance Federal Housing Policy, Part 2: Affordability Worsening For Low-Income Renters
• The Need to Rebalance Federal Housing Policy, Part 3: Current Policies Don’t Keep Up
• The Need to Rebalance Federal Housing Policy, Part 4: How a Renters’Credit Could Work

Renters’Tax Credit Would Promote Equity and Advance Balanced Housing Policy

Over the past several decades, the nation’s housing policy has focused predominantly on increasing homeownership. Most federal housing expenditures now benefit families with relatively little need for assistance. Meanwhile, low-income renters are far more likely than higher-income households to pay a very high share of their income for housing and to face other serious housing-related problems.

A federal renters’tax credit could help reduce rents for over a million poor families at a modest cost and advance a more balanced housing policy. Read more

Related:

• Off the Charts: A Bipartisan Call for More Help for Low-Income Renters
• One-Page Fact Sheet
• Materials from the August 2, 2012 webinar with Barbara Sard, Will Fischer and Gerald Hunter: Recording and Powerpoint.
• Renter Credit Key Features
• Fact Sheet: Use in Low Income Housing Tax Credit Properties
• Fact Sheet: Use by Lenders
• Federal Renters’Credit Working Group Submission
• Renters' Credit Income Targeting Memo