HR7972-118

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Affordable Housing and Area Median Income Fairness Act of 2024.

3. Assessment regarding optimizing use of area median income to support affordable housing in urban areas Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall commence an assessment of alternative methods for calculating area median income, and the use of alternative metrics, for programs administered by the Secretary that would make housing more affordable for low-income families residing in urban areas nationwide, which shall include analysis of the topics identified in subsection (b). Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, and make publicly available, a report setting forth the results of the assessment conducted pursuant to subsection (a), which shall include— a review and summarization of significant findings and recommendations from any related previous reports regarding area median income; an assessment of the extent and impacts of the affordable housing crisis in urban areas nationwide, particularly within jurisdictions for which the Secretary has applied a high housing cost adjustment, including a comparison of rent burdens for very low-income households in jurisdictions with and without high housing cost adjustments; an analysis and assessment of the effects that high housing cost adjustments have had on income limits and rent prices in jurisdictions for which the Secretary has applied such an adjustment, including any effects on maximum rents allowed under sections 42 and 142 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for tax-subsidized units; an updated assessment of the potential impacts to affordable housing, particularly on income limits and rent prices, of calculating area median income on a ZIP Code level basis and using other localized methodologies; a process through which State housing authorities may designate area median income jurisdictions within that State; an assessment of alternative metrics to area median income for the purposes of setting income levels and related thresholds for affordable housing programs administered by the Secretary; recommendations for how the Secretary could reform or eliminate use of area median income for the purposes of making housing more affordable for low-income and middle class families in urban areas; any further recommendations for how the Secretary could use existing authorities to make housing more affordable for low-income and middle class families in urban areas, particularly for such families for which the Secretary has applied a high housing cost adjustment; and an assessment of the impacts that Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York State have on the City of New York's area median income, related metrics, and affordable housing supply, including on income limits and maximum rent prices for affordable housing units within the jurisdiction of the City of New York. Not later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate describing the methodology that will be used to conduct the assessment under this section.

4. Definitions For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply: The term area median income means median income for an area, as such term is used in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)), median family income, and any other substantively similar metric that the Secretary uses to refer to the median income level for a given area or jurisdiction for purposes of any program administered by the Secretary. The term high housing cost adjustment means an adjustment for high housing costs or high construction costs, or any substantively similar adjustment that the Secretary may use to increase income limits for areas where the cost of housing is abnormally high compared to the median income for such area, for purposes of any program administered by the Secretary. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.