The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”: On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Senate is now considering the legislation. Overall, H.R.1 is a vehicle for tax cuts that will primarily benefit the wealthy and spending cuts that will disproportionately harm poor and working-class communities, and likely communities of color in particular. One aspect of the bill that may appear to cut against this overarching characterization is its changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The bill would expand allocations for the most desirable “9%” tax credits by 12.5% and would change the rules for bond-financed LIHTC developments in ways that would also be likely to increase overall affordable housing production.
Since its creation in 1986, the LIHTC program has been the primary vehicle for affordable housing production in the United States, but the program has also been plagued by serious problems, including the disproportionate siting of LIHTC properties in high-poverty neighborhoods, the expiration of insufficiently long affordability restrictions, cost-burden and evictions for tenants, and a tendency to promote for-profit ownership over social ownership. At present, the program serves a valuable purpose and should not be abandoned unless there is a program lined up to replace it at scale; however, expanding the program without addressing these longstanding issues raises real concerns. Thus, the advancement of the provisions that are in the bill without some of the other fixes already included in the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act risks eroding the underlying basis for the compromises reflected in that bill: if LIHTC developers achieve a significant portion of their policy goals through H.R. 1 without having to accommodate fair housing and tenants’ rights concerns, will they still be at the table to address those concerns at a later date?
Supreme Court deadlocks on public funding of religious charter schools: On May 22, 2025, an evenly divided Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Oklahoma Supreme Court in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond. The Oklahoma Supreme Court had held that, because charter schools are public schools, they must be operated on a non-sectarian basis in order to be consistent with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. With Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused, the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on this issue. When the Supreme Court is deadlocked, the result is that the lower court’s decision is affirmed. A decision reversing the Oklahoma Supreme Court would have had serious harmful effects for educational equity efforts. Unfortunately, this legal issue remains one to watch for the future as proponents of religious charter schools are likely to try to find a case raising the same issue that would not trigger Justice Barrett’s recusal.
Other news and resources
Join us for the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility: PRRAC and our partners at Mobility Works will be hosting the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility on October 17, 2025 in Chicago. Those who are interested can register for the event here, and those who are interested in all three days can register here.
ProPublica on the weakening of HUD’s enforcement of the Fair Housing Act: ProPublica has a detailed expose on the lack of Fair Housing Act enforcement coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Trump Administration.
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