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Last Thursday, the Albuquerque Journal carried an opinion editorial promoting our carryback proposal and explaining the importance of Senator Bingaman's bill to reinvigorate the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.

We greatly appreciate those of you who have reached out to your Senators in the past, and we urge you to use this opinion editorial as you continue to follow up with your Senators.

Encourage your Senators to co-sponsor both the Cantwell (S.3326) and Bingaman (S.3141) bills. Also ask your Senators to urge Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Grassley (R-IA) to include the Cantwell and Bingaman proposals in the Senate version of the small business jobs bill. We need to have as much support as possible before the small business jobs bill (H.R. 5297) comes to a vote.

If you have any questions about how to make your appeal or if you hear any news, please contact Peter Lawrence, (202) 649-3915.  Also, if your organization is not listed among our supporters here, please contact Rachel Reilly (202) 649-3903 to sign on.

As a reminder, there are also helpful materials in the Advocacy Toolkit.

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Last night, the Senate failed in its efforts to pass the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213). The Cloture Motion was rejected when only 57 of the 60 votes required were obtained. The Senate will now refocus its energy towards the small business jobs bill which they will vote to proceed on at 5:30 pm on Monday (June 28^th).

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Please visit our Advocacy Toolkit for updated text and summary of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R.4213).

 

We have also uploaded text and summary for the new small business jobs bill, the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010 (H.R.5486). Read more, Comments: 1

There are currently two tax bills pending in Congress which are important to the ACTION campaign.

The first is the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213). You likely received an alert regarding this bill last week. This is the final version of the “tax extenders” bill. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Levin and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus worked together to reconcile House and Senate versions of the bill. The ACTION proposal to extend the 9% credit exchange program for one year is included in this bill.

H.R. 4213 is scheduled for final passage by both the House and the Senate this week A vote will first occur in the House. If it passes, it will be followed shortly thereafter by a vote in the Senate.

The second important legislative vehicle is the Senate version of small business jobs bill (H.R. 4849) for which we have an action alert here. We need to attach the Bingaman (S.3141) and Cantwell (S.3326) bills as amendments to the small business jobs bill in order to pass the carryback and 4% credit proposal as we originally proposed it.

The 4% rebate as passed in the House small business jobs bill is very limited and difficult to use. Campaign members are working hard to correct this.

In the current draft of the Senate small business jobs bill, there is a general 5-year carryback, but it only applies to businesses with less than $50 million in receipts. Campaign members are working to modify this measure to apply to the entity receiving the funds.

What you can do

Your continued support is invaluable as we urge Congress to pass these measures. Please continue to follow-up with your Senators and Representatives on these issues. Tell your Senators to co-sponsor the Bingaman and Cantwell bills. Urge your Representatives to support the “extenders” bill.

Supporting materials are available in the Advocacy Toolkit.

Legislative updates are posted on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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Today the New York Times carries an editorial explaining the importance of Senator Cantwell's and Senator Bingaman's bills to reinvigorate the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. This editorial is the result of hard work by Enterprise Community Partners to explain the importance of the A.C.T.I.O.N. (A Call To Invest In Our Neighborhoods) campaign proposals to the NY Times and other media outlets.

We greatly appreciate those of you who have reached out to your Senators in the past weeks, and we urge you to use this editorial today as a reason to follow up with your Senators.

Encourage your Senators to co-sponsor both the Cantwell (S.3326) and Bingaman (S.3141) bills. Also ask your Senators to urge Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Grassley (R-IA) to include the Cantwell and Bingaman proposals in the Senate version of the small business jobs bill.

We need to have as much support as possible before the small business jobs bill comes to a vote, which is expected to occur soon, no later than before Memorial Day.

If you have any questions about how to make your appeal or if you hear any news, please contact Peter Lawrence, (202) 649-3915.  As a reminder, there are also helpful materials in the Advocacy Toolkit.

 

Also, if your organization is not listed among our supporters here, please contact Alexandra Chaikin (202) 649-3903 to sign on.

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On Thursday, May 6 Senator Cantwell introduced S. 3326, the "Job Creation and Affordable Housing Act of 2010". Her press release is here.

So far co-sponsors of the bill are:

• Senator Kerry (D-MA)
• Senator Boxer (D-CA)
• Senator Schumer (D-NY)
  

Please use our sample letters to encourage your Senator to sign on as a co-sponsor. We anticipate that the small business jobs bill will be considered soon so we will need your help in increasing co-sponsors before then. However, the markup for Wednesday, May 12 has been postponed.

Important targets are Senate Finance Committee members and signatories to the Kerry/Cantwell Dear Colleague letter.

Thank you to all our supporters who have already worked to engage Senators on the Bingaman bill. Senator Sherrod Brown's (D-OH) recent co-sponsorship of the Bingaman bill (S.3141) is yet another example of how local advocacy efforts matter.
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Senator Bingaman introduced S.3141 on March 18. This bill is very similar to  HR. 4109, as introduced in the House by Rep. Pascrell.

S. 3141 would increase the carryback period for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit from one to a maximum of five years. Ernst & Young recently determined that this would bring in $5 billion in additional private LIHTC investments. The bill would thus reinvigorate investment in the LIHTC program and produce needed affordable housing while preserving and creating jobs.

We are currently seeking co-sponsors in the Senate, especially from members of the Senate Finance Committee. The updated list of co-sponsors is:

• Sen. Cantwell (D-WA)
• Sen. Kerry (D-MA)
• Sen. Menendez (D-NJ)
• Sen. Schumer (D-NY)
• Sen. Stabenow (D-MI)
• Sen. Merkley (D-OR)

The bill summary and status is available on Thomas.gov (Library of Congress).
The full text of the bill is also available here. Read more, Comments: 0

Coalition members have put together a brief two page document describing the relevance of our proposals to small business. This document is especially important now as the Senate considers attaching our proposals to the small business jobs bill after recess.

You may read a summary here of House version of the small business jobs bill (H.R. 4849, "The Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010"). The full text of the House bill  as passed is here.

All documents are available on our Advocacy Toolkit page.
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This recently released HUD paper supports the arguments in our campaign's vacancy paper  that affordable rental housing is clearly segmented from the higher-end rental market, and that those who cannot currently afford homes are currently doubled-up.
 
The HUD paper is available here and on our advocacy page.
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Please visit our Advocacy Toolkit for the updated quantitative impacts of our proposals. We have also updated all state fact sheets.

If you handed out materials to Hill staff before, please reconnect with them to share the latest information and remind them to show their support for our proposals. We are focused on the jobs bill as a vehicle.
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Check out our video of Speaker Pelosi at the opening of Nihonmachi Terrace.
http://rentalhousingaction.edicypages.com/stories-profiles/video-gallery
This is also available on YouTube so please share with other interested parties.
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Affordable v. Conventional Housing Supply and Carryback support materials just added

These can be used as rebuttals to common misconceptions

Affordable vs Conventional Housing Market: Data and Arguments (PDF, 122 KB)

Carryback FAQs (PDF, 252 KB) 

Carryback Justification Talking Points (PDF, 59 KB)

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We altered the appearance of the state fact sheets to improve the visibility of the facts themselves. Check it out on our state fact sheet page.
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New Advocacy Tool now available
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New materials in Advocacy Toolkit
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See the report and the state fact sheets for estimated impacts of our proposals
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Today we have officially reached 100 signed supporters! Read more, Comments: 1

Our Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. campaign is pleased to announce that we have gained  almost 20 new members since the beginning of September, almost a 30% increase! The coalition is stepping up its efforts to bring Congressional attention to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Meetings have been conducted with numerous Congressional offices; members should stay tuned to our weekly conference calls for details.

We are also seeking stories, photos, and videos which demonstrate the human side of  LIHTC. It is important for Congress to understand that this tax credit is more than a series of regulations, that it is a means of providing families with safety and security in these tough economic times.

Selected materials will be posted in the Stories and Profiles section of our website. Please email your files and website links to the policy email address to the right.
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News Release Read more, Comments: 0

Affordable Housing Finance Magazine recently highlighted the Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign in an online article.  The article, "Group Agrees to LIHTC Stimulus Plan" quotes A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign partner David Abramowitz of the law firm Goulston & Storrs. Read more, Comments: 0

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I'm happy to announce that the Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign has a new website. Thanks to the folks at  www.Edicy.com, the A.C.T.I.O.N. campaign now has a stand-alone campaign website for our supporters and partners to learn more about the campaign and to help us take A.C.T.I.O.N.! Let us know what you think; what you like; what you don't like...and we'll try to make improvements. We can add all the bells and whistles folks want (or maybe not) but at the end of the day, without the active support of our advocates, we will not be able achieve our goal: to restore investment in affordable rental housing. Look out for future campaign updates and announcements here on our blog.  Read more, Comments: 2