Tina Smith: “I rise to join Senator Schumer in offering legislation that will help maintain our Nation's affordable housing…”

“I rise to join Senator Schumer in offering legislation that will help maintain our Nation's affordable housing inventory. Our country's stock of affordable rental housing is shrinking. Every day, we lose affordable units to rent increases, deterioration, and conversions to market-rate housing or commercial use. For millions of Americans, this means that it is getting harder to put a roof over their family's heads and food on the table. In 2000--recognizing that we had a looming crisis--Congress established the bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission. The Commission was tasked with studying the importance of affordable housing to the infrastructure of the United States as well as the various methods to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the private sector's role in providing affordable housing. The bill Senator Schumer and I are introducing is based on a recommendation by the Millennial Housing Commission. Our bill would waive the depreciation recapture tax liability if investors sell their property to owners who will preserve the property as affordable housing for 30 years. Through a simple change in the Tax Code, our bill will help preserve the federally assisted affordable housing stock of the United States at a minimal cost to the Federal Government.…”