White House Budget Proposal Includes Over $175 Billion for Housing

The proposed budget released by the White House on Thursday includes over $175 billion in investments directed at increasing the nation’s housing supply and alleviating the affordability crisis.

As Michael Brady explains in Smart Cities Dive, “The budget proposal includes $59 billion in mandatory funding and tax incentives to increase the affordable housing supply and $10 billion in mandatory funding to create incentives for state and local governments to eliminate barriers to affordable housing such as restrictive zoning.”

The proposal includes a neighborhood homes tax credit, which “would cover the gap between the construction costs and the sale price for rehabilitated or newly constructed single-family homes in low-income communities,” as well as an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit, rental assistance, among other incentives and subsidies. The budget also proposes an expansion of the Housing Choice Voucher program, voucher guarantees for vulnerable groups, and funding for eviction prevention efforts.

Brady notes that “Congress is unlikely to pass the president’s budget as written, with the White House engaged in a pitched battle with congressional Republicans over spending priorities and the debt ceiling.” Meanwhile, a budget outline being considered by congressional Republicans would cut 43 percent from housing programs and paves the way for eliminating the Housing Choice Voucher program.