A national network of funders supporting strategic, innovative, and effective solutions to homelessness

How Will Tax Reform Affect Affordable Housing?

The debate about tax reform is heating up, as the House and Senate have each introduced their own versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act this month. The House voted on its bill two weeks ago, and a vote is anticipated in the Senate this week.

 

As part of our efforts to provide timely updates on advocacy and policy issues related to homelessness, we would like to share resources and our partners’ updates on these developments and how the proposed tax reforms could affect affordable housing:

The House version of the bill includes an amendment that would eliminate Johnson Amendment protections from all 501(c)(3) organizations, with changes going into effect in 2019 and then expiring after five years. United Philanthropy Forum issued a position statement about the Johnson Amendment earlier this year. Read more here.

At the same time, we continue to monitor progress on the federal budget and, in particular, proposed funding for HUD and related programs and services.

On November 16, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and other leaders of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding held a webinar on the FY18 Budget Outlook and Impact of Tax Reform on Affordable Housing Programs. You can watch the webinar recording or view the slides to learn about the current status and outlook for the FY18 budget process, the potential impact tax reform could have on affordable housing and community development programs, and how advocates can effectively communicate with policymakers and the public about the need for increased federal investments in proven affordable housing and community development programs.

We also encourage you to utilize our Policy Priorities for the Administration page, which has additional resources and includes a messaging guide for philanthropy to the Administration and Congress around key budget issues, and our Advocacy 101 for Funders webinar held earlier this year with Alliance for Justice.


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  • Funders Together to End Homelessness
    published this page in Blog 2017-11-28 15:15:28 -0500

We joined Funders Together because we believe in the power of philanthropy to play a major role in ending homelessness, and we know we have much to learn from funders across the country.

-Christine Marge, Director of Housing and Financial Stability at United Way of Greater Los Angeles

I am thankful for the local partnerships here in the Pacific Northwest that we’ve been able to create and nurture thanks to the work of Funders Together. Having so many of the right players at the table makes our conversations – and all of our efforts – all the richer and more effective.

-David Wertheimer, Deputy Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Very often a lack of jobs and money is not the cause of poverty, but the symptom. The cause may lie deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities, in a lack of education and training, in a lack of medical care and housing, in a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children.

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964 State of the Union Address

Funders Together has given me a platform to engage the other funders in my community. Our local funding community has improved greatly to support housing first models and align of resources towards ending homelessness.

-Leslie Strnisha, Vice President at Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

Our family foundation convenes local funders and key community stakeholders around strategies to end homelessness in Houston. Funders Together members have been invaluable mentors to us in this effort, traveling to our community to share their expertise and examples of best practices from around the nation.

-Nancy Frees Fountain, Managing Director at The Frees Foundation


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