Housing and Community Development

Hello friends,

Kansas recently introduced HB 2119, a bill eliminating the state affordable housing tax credit program. This is a dollar-for-dollar match to the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit and was established in 2022.

There is no cap to the program other than federal dollars, so approximately $25.1 million in tax credits are allocated per year. Since the credits compound over 10 years, it represents $251 million in foregone tax revenue per allocation year. Kansas has an internal office called the Division of Legislative Post Audit, which audits different programs and functions of the state. The Division was required per state law to audit the program in 2023, and that audit is the basis of the current push to eliminate the state affordable housing tax credit program.

This bill is moving quickly. Kansas is facing a revenue shortfall and looking to cut spending, and due to the high calculated fiscal impact, the affordable housing tax credit is a target. However, we also face a housing crisis, so eliminating incentive programs for building (any, but especially affordable) housing is not the solution.

I want to ask this community what states have faced similar efforts to eliminate incentive programs for affordable housing development and what tactics have been effective at stalling these efforts. Any and all help you can provide is much appreciated. I've attached a document providing more background on how we've gotten to this point.

Thank you.

Reily

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Reily Goyne
AIA Kansas
reily@aiaks.org
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Why not organize to collect voluntary affordable housing donations from people who are willing to contribute. This will meet the needs for affordable housing, reduce the cost of state and federal employees who administer the programs, downsizing government, and help the state reduce tax rates; the lower tax rates will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers and enable businesses to invest more in hiring; between the job growth and restoration of lost income, affordable housing will also be less of a problem; and the lower tax rates will enable and encourage more donations to make housing affordable. In the process, recipients of donated funds will develop a contagious sense of gratitude instead of entitlement; and donors will develop a contagious sense of community-focused well-doing instead of resignation to higher involuntary taxes. Most states and communities are loaded with organizations that do this already. They need more donors. Win-win. I count at least 8 wins in there.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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Original Message:
Sent: 2/25/2025 9:43:00 PM
From: Sean Catherall AIA
Subject: RE: Kansas bill eliminating state match to Low Income Housing Tax Credit

Why not organize to collect voluntary affordable housing donations from people who are willing to contribute. This will meet the needs for affordable housing, reduce the cost of state and federal employees who administer the programs, downsizing government, and help the state reduce tax rates; the lower tax rates will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers and enable businesses to invest more in hiring; between the job growth and restoration of lost income, affordable housing will also be less of a problem; and the lower tax rates will enable and encourage more donations to make housing affordable. In the process, recipients of donated funds will develop a contagious sense of gratitude instead of entitlement; and donors will develop a contagious sense of community-focused well-doing instead of resignation to higher involuntary taxes. Most states and communities are loaded with organizations that do this already. They need more donors. Win-win. I count at least 8 wins in there.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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Hi Sean,

In the spirit of the dialogue these forums are intended to have, and since you chose to weigh in, I have some questions for you.   

You wrote, "Why not organize to collect voluntary affordable housing donations from people who are willing to contribute(?) This will meet the needs for affordable housing..."  In your experience, how many people are willing to contribute to affordable housing donations?  What evidence do you have that the amounts those donors contribute would be large enough and consistent enough to build more affordable housing in a sustainable way?  For how many, and in what areas of the country?  Do you have the data comparing need to funding sources to be able to state that donations would meet the needs year after year?  Or any information to support that lowering potential donors' taxes would increase the likelihood of donations to these specific needs? 

Regarding the part of your statement, "reduce the cost of state and federal employees who administer the programs, downsizing government" I'd like to hear more about how you think the surge in the unemployment filings by highly qualified and committed federal employees who were fired without cause contributes to job growth, or translate to tax rates that "will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers and enable businesses to invest more in hiring". 

You also wrote, "between the job growth and restoration of lost income, affordable housing will also be less of a problem".  Please clarify.  Are you stating that the affordable housing crisis in the US, documented by the AIA and other sources, has to do with the ability to purchase rather than the supply of attainable housing units?  Is this why you made statements about gratitude vs entitlement?  Correct me if I'm wrong.  The original post here is about tax credit programs to incentivize building more attainable housing units by businesses, not individuals.  Even if I follow your logic that cutting programs like these leads to tax cuts for all, how would putting a few more dollars annually into the pockets of lower income buyers better position them in the bidding wars (if) when something in their price range comes on the market?

The published purpose of this hub is, "The AIA Housing and Community Development Knowledge Community (HCD) is a network of architects and allied stakeholders that promotes equity in housing, excellence in residential design, and sustainable, vibrant communities for all, through education, research, awards, and advocacy."  I look forward to more discussion of how we can address the original author's question about what's happening around the US, which could help their advocacy in Kansas. After all, that's why most of us subscribe to this community.

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Cheryl Copeland AIA
Cheryl Copeland Architect
Silver Spring MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-25-2025 09:43 PM
From: Sean Catherall AIA
Subject: Kansas bill eliminating state match to Low Income Housing Tax Credit

Why not organize to collect voluntary affordable housing donations from people who are willing to contribute. This will meet the needs for affordable housing, reduce the cost of state and federal employees who administer the programs, downsizing government, and help the state reduce tax rates; the lower tax rates will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers and enable businesses to invest more in hiring; between the job growth and restoration of lost income, affordable housing will also be less of a problem; and the lower tax rates will enable and encourage more donations to make housing affordable. In the process, recipients of donated funds will develop a contagious sense of gratitude instead of entitlement; and donors will develop a contagious sense of community-focused well-doing instead of resignation to higher involuntary taxes. Most states and communities are loaded with organizations that do this already. They need more donors. Win-win. I count at least 8 wins in there.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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Perhaps I'm missing the point of the tread.  Forgive me if I am.  

Creating Tax Credit shelters to fund affordable housing was initiated by a wise consortium of Wall Streeters and financial institution leaders during the Clinton administration.  Nobel but grounded advisors who realized two basic facts:

1. The wealth bandwidth of the US has always pursued and secured tax shelters.
2. Relying on affordable housing funding extracted from Federal and State tax coffers is flawed, unsustainable and subject to political cycles.  

The brilliance of the notion was it completely aligned with the 'tax game' as it's always been played, it created privately funded pots of money dedicated to building affordable housing and virtually insulated the initiative politically.  Both sides of the isle embraced it. This trifecta of strategy has worked successfully for through countless political wind shifts and continues to be a sought after, highly structured and wildly successful initiative for almost 30 years.  If our government ever got something 'right' it was this tax shelter strategy.  

Why any state would now begin to tinker with it let alone eliminate it is beyond comprehension.  In simpler terms ... just plain dumb. 

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John Fry AIA
Nexus Creative Architecture Planning and Design
Mt Kisco NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-25-2025 09:43 PM
From: Sean Catherall AIA
Subject: Kansas bill eliminating state match to Low Income Housing Tax Credit

Why not organize to collect voluntary affordable housing donations from people who are willing to contribute. This will meet the needs for affordable housing, reduce the cost of state and federal employees who administer the programs, downsizing government, and help the state reduce tax rates; the lower tax rates will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers and enable businesses to invest more in hiring; between the job growth and restoration of lost income, affordable housing will also be less of a problem; and the lower tax rates will enable and encourage more donations to make housing affordable. In the process, recipients of donated funds will develop a contagious sense of gratitude instead of entitlement; and donors will develop a contagious sense of community-focused well-doing instead of resignation to higher involuntary taxes. Most states and communities are loaded with organizations that do this already. They need more donors. Win-win. I count at least 8 wins in there.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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