Bill Introduced to Address Rising LIHTC Rents

Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY) recently introduced the “Affordable Housing and Area Median Income Fairness Act of 2019” (H.R.4984). The bill attempts to change how HUD calculates the area median income (AMI). For Clarke’s constituency, the AMI calculation incorporates not just mean earnings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx, but also those of the affluent counties of Westchester and Rockland counties. Her bill would subtract those suburbs from the equation, resulting in a much lower AMI figure.