Senate Finance Committee Chair Proposes Housing Bill

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced today the Decent, Affordable, Safe Housing (DASH) for All Act. The legislation includes a number of tax-related proposals, which fall under Wyden’s committee jurisdiction, as well as other housing policy changes that are outside of the panel’s focus.

NAHB supports many of the proposals included in the DASH Act, which is heavily focused on affordable housing. Specifically, NAHB supports:

• Additional resources for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to increase production of affordable rental housing;
• Creating a Middle Income Housing Tax Credit aimed at increasing rental workforce housing; and
• Establishing a permanent and refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers.

The DASH Act would also prohibit discrimination based on a tenant’s lawful source of income, which would require landlords to accept Section 8 housing choice vouchers. NAHB opposes this mandate because many landlords don’t work through HUD’s processes, and accepting a voucher comes with a heavy administrative and financial burden, particularly for smaller landlords. NAHB supports funding additional vouchers and will continue to work with Sen. Wyden on this issue.

We expect Chairman Wyden to push for inclusion of many of the tax provisions included in the DASH Act as part of the Democrats’ fall agenda to overhaul the tax code. NAHB will be heavily engaged over the coming months as the Democrats prepare to move forward on their tax priorities.