Dear Member of Congress:

The undersigned organizations strongly urge you to oppose the current tax reform bill proposed by the House leadership that would be devastating for affordable housing in Massachusetts.

Our robust affordable housing production and preservation programs in Massachusetts are successful because of strong federal partnerships. Unfortunately, the tax reform legislation will either eliminate or seriously impact the programs Massachusetts needs to create affordable housing.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), private activity bonds, the Historic Tax Credit, and New Markets Tax Credit, together with rental assistance, provide the resources necessary to produce and preserve homes for people with low- and extremely low-incomes. This includes seniors, families, people who have experienced homelessness, and persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, tax reform threatens all these programs.

While the bill retains LIHTC, the proposal eliminates the tax exemption for private activity bonds. These bonds help finance nearly half of all LIHTC-financed affordable homes. Additionally, there are no changes or enhancements to LIHTC that would help offset the decreased value of LIHTC caused by lowering the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent. The proposal also eliminates the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit, both of which are used to produce or preserve affordable housing.

All this will seriously reduce our ability to provide affordable housing options for people with low-incomes and take away vital tools for revitalizing neighborhoods across the Commonwealth.

We urge you to preserve the tax exemption of Private Activity Bonds for multifamily housing; make changes to LIHTC to offset the impact of a lower corporate rate on the value of the tax credit; and restore the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit.

Sincerely,

[List of Organizations]