ACTION ALERT LD 2106 - An Act to Accelerate the Production of Affordable Housing and Strengthen the Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit Submit Your Testimony or Attend the Public Hearing Wed, Jan. 24, 1:30 pm, Augusta, State House, Rm 127
LD2106 increases the maximum tax credit allowed for certified historic property rehabilitation projects from $5 million to $10 million.
Talking points:
Please support LD2106, An Act to Accelerate the Production of Affordable Housing and Strengthen the Historic Property Rehabilitation Tax Credit sponsored by Senator Rotundo. This bill increases the maximum tax credit allowed for certified historic property rehabilitation projects including affordable housing.
This credit has paved the way for hundreds of new units across the State. Its time to expand the program. An OPEGA study of the credit showed that 69% of projects use the credit for housing, and 1/5 of all new affordable housing units leverage this credit.
There’s no better place to build new housing in Maine than in already developed locations, that revitalize and add decades of use to run down historic properties. This rehab work with new weatherization and energy standards is time consuming and extensive. Maine’s state historic tax credit was capped in 2008 at $5 million. This bill increases the tax credit to $10 million.
Construction costs have more than doubled since 2008, and with inflation and new energy requirements, this increase is necessary to have historic property rehabs continue in our state. Tax credits are an extremely efficient way for our State to help build housing, because credits bring in, and leverage further investment from outside of Maine.
Maine is decades behind investing in housing and needs to be building thousands of new homes a year to meet this backlog. This is a straightforward bill that brings the purchasing power of the Maine credit closer to what it was intended to do in 2008. I hope you will support this bill as it is one of the most tangible things we can do to boost housing production in Maine this legislative session.
Thursday, Feb 8 - MAHC Member Meeting, 9-10:30 am, Maine Housing, 26 Edison Drive, Augusta
In person panel discussion on the Affordable Housing Investment Market. Email for remote access.
