Opportunity Starts At Home Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7351 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for low- income housing supportive services. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2020 Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. THOMPSON of California, and Ms. JUDY CHU of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for low-income housing supportive services. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Opportunity Starts At 4 Home Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING SUPPORTIVE 6 SERVICES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub- 8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7351 IH 1986 is amended by inserting after section 42 the fol- 1 lowing new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 42A. CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOW-INCOME 3 HOUSING SUPPORTIVE SERVICES. 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 5 amount of the low-income housing supportive services 6 credit determined under this section for the applicable tax- 7 able year is an amount equal to 25 percent of the qualified 8 supportive housing contribution made by the taxpayer. 9 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUSING CONTRIBU- 10 TION.—For purposes of this section— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified sup- 12 portive housing contribution’ means the total 13 amount contributed in cash by the taxpayer to a 14 qualified supportive housing reserve fund with re- 15 spect to a qualified low-income building, determined 16 as of the date the building is placed in service. 17 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUSING RE- 18 SERVE FUND.—The term ‘qualified supportive hous- 19 ing reserve fund’ means, with respect to any quali- 20 fied low-income building, a separate fund reserved 21 exclusively for payment for qualified supportive serv- 22 ices provided to tenants of the building pursuant to 23 an extended supportive services commitment. The 24 owner of such building shall designate an adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7351 IH trator to separately account for the amounts in the 1 fund in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe. 2 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No amount attrib- 4 utable to any governmental grant, including 5 grants provided by the government of any 6 State, possession, tribe, or locality, shall be 7 taken into account under paragraph (1). 8 ‘‘(B) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The total 9 qualified supportive housing contributions taken 10 into account under this section with respect to 11 any qualified low-income building shall not ex- 12 ceed— 13 ‘‘(i) $120,000, multiplied by 14 ‘‘(ii) the number of low-income units 15 in the building which are occupied at the 16 close of the applicable taxable year. 17 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE TAXABLE YEAR.—For purposes of 18 this section, the term ‘applicable taxable year’ means the 19 1st taxable year in the credit period with respect to the 20 qualified low-income building described in subsection 21 (b)(1). 22 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—For pur- 23 poses of this section, the term ‘qualified supportive serv- 24 ices’ means services— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7351 IH ‘‘(1) provided by the owner of a qualified low- 1 income building (directly or through contracts with 2 a third-party service provider) to tenants of the 3 building, 4 ‘‘(2) which include health services (including 5 mental health services), coordination of tenant bene- 6 fits, job training, financial counseling, resident en- 7 gagement services, or services the principal purpose 8 of which is to help tenants retain permanent hous- 9 ing, or such other services as the Secretary may by 10 regulation provide, 11 ‘‘(3) which are provided at no cost to tenants, 12 and 13 ‘‘(4) usage of or participation in which is not 14 required for tenants. 15 Such term includes reasonable and necessary measures for 16 the provision of such services, including measures to en- 17 gage tenants in and coordinate such services and measures 18 required to obtain the certification described in subsection 19 (e)(4). 20 ‘‘(e) EXTENDED SUPPORTIVE SERVICES COMMIT- 21 MENT.—The term ‘extended supportive services commit- 22 ment’ means any agreement between the owner of a quali- 23 fied low-income building and the housing credit agency 24 which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7351 IH ‘‘(1) requires that amounts in a qualified sup- 1 portive housing reserve fund are spent exclusively on 2 the provision of qualified supportive services to ten- 3 ants of such building, 4 ‘‘(2) requires that the amounts in such fund be 5 spent entirely during the extended use period, and 6 provides for the manner in which such spending will 7 be distributed across such period, 8 ‘‘(3) requires the designation of 1 or more indi- 9 viduals to engage tenants regarding and coordinate 10 delivery of qualified supportive services, 11 ‘‘(4) requires the maintenance of an appro- 12 priate certification, as determined by the Secretary 13 after consultation with housing credit agencies, for 14 qualified supportive services, subject to recertifi- 15 cation at least once every 5 years, 16 ‘‘(5) requires appropriate annual reporting to 17 the housing credit agency on expenditures and out- 18 comes, as determined by such agency, and 19 ‘‘(6) is binding on all successors in ownership of 20 such building. 21 ‘‘(f) RECAPTURE OF QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUS- 22 ING RESERVE AMOUNTS.— 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the owner of a qualified 24 low-income building is determined to be noncompli- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7351 IH ant with the extended supportive services commit- 1 ment or extended low-income housing commitment 2 with respect to such building, any remaining 3 amounts in the qualified supportive housing reserve 4 fund with respect to such building shall be trans- 5 ferred to the housing credit agency. 6 ‘‘(2) USE OF REPAYMENTS.—A housing credit 7 agency shall use any amount received pursuant to 8 paragraph (1) only for purposes of qualified low-in- 9 come buildings. 10 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULES.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 12 provision of this section, no credit shall be allowed 13 under this section for any taxable year with respect 14 to any qualified low-income building unless— 15 ‘‘(A) the building has received an alloca- 16 tion of the low-income housing credit under sec- 17 tion 42 by a housing credit agency which is ap- 18 proved by the governmental unit (in accordance 19 with rules similar to the rules of section 20 147(f)(2) (other than subparagraph (B)(ii) 21 thereof)) of which such agency is a part, 22 ‘‘(B) the housing credit agency sets forth 23 selection criteria to determine appropriate, evi- 24 dence-based supportive services and provides a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7351 IH procedure that the agency (or an agent or other 1 private contractor of such agency) will follow in 2 monitoring for noncompliance with the provi- 3 sions of this section and in reporting such non- 4 compliance to the Secretary, 5 ‘‘(C) an extended low-income housing com- 6 mitment is in effect with respect to such build- 7 ing as of the end of such taxable year, 8 ‘‘(D) an extended supportive services com- 9 mitment is in effect with respect to such build- 10 ing as of the end of such taxable year, and 11 ‘‘(E) appropriate books and records for 12 itemized expenses and expenditures with respect 13 to the qualified supportive housing reserve fund 14 are maintained on an annual basis, and are 15 available for inspection upon request by the 16 housing credit agency. 17 ‘‘(2) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—The de- 18 ductions otherwise allowed under this chapter for the 19 taxable year shall be reduced by the amount of the 20 credit allowed under this section for such taxable 21 year. 22 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—Any term used in this section 23 which is also used in section 42 shall have the same mean- 24 ing as when used in such section.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7351 IH (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 1 CREDIT.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(b) of the Internal 3 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 4 ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (32), by striking the 5 period at the end of paragraph (33) and inserting ‘‘, 6 plus’’, and by adding at the end the following new 7 paragraph: 8 ‘‘(34) the low-income housing supportive serv- 9 ices credit determined under section 42A(a).’’. 10 (2) TREATMENT AS SPECIFIED CREDIT.— 11 Clause (iii) of section 38(c)(4)(B) of such Code is 12 amended by inserting ‘‘, and the credit determined 13 under section 42A’’ after ‘‘2007’’. 14 (c) TREATMENT FOR PURPOSES OF TAX ON BASE 15 EROSION PAYMENTS.—Paragraph (4) of section 59A(b) 16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by re- 17 designating subparagraphs (B) and (C) as subparagraphs 18 (C) and (D), respectively, and by inserting after subpara- 19 graph (A) the following new subparagraph: 20 ‘‘(B) the low-income housing supportive 21 services credit determined under section 22 42A(a),’’. 23 (d) PASSIVE ACTIVITY CREDITS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7351 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 469 of the Internal 1 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘42’’ 2 each place it appears in subsections (i)(3)(C), 3 (i)(6)(B)(i), and (k)(1) and inserting ‘‘42 or 42A’’. 4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The head- 5 ings of subsections (i)(3)(C) and (i)(6)(B) of section 6 469 of such Code are each amended by striking 7 ‘‘CREDIT’’ and inserting ‘‘CREDITS’’. 8 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 9 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 10 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in- 11 serting after the item relating to section 42 the following 12 new item: 13 ‘‘Sec. 42A. Credit for contributions to low-income housing supportive services.’’. (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 14 this section shall apply to buildings placed in service after 15 December 31, 2020. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS