The nation's home builders today expressed support for H.R. 3186, the "Build Houses for Our Military's Enlisted Servicemembers Act," noting that the legislation would expand opportunities for enlisted military personnel and their families to obtain safe, decent and affordable housing.

Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Home Builders before the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, Bobby Bowling, a third generation home builder and president of Tropicana Homes in El Paso, Texas, said the bill would allow more military families to qualify for occupancy in Low Income Housing Tax Credit properties.

"This important legislation increases access to affordable housing for enlisted military personnel, specifically through the housing tax credit program," said Bowling. "This would be especially helpful at Fort Bliss in El Paso, where there is a tremendous shortage of decent, affordable housing for enlisted military personnel and their families."

The legislation would correct a technical anomoly in the method by which income eligibility is calculated for enlisted military personnel who seek to qualify for residency in a LIHTC home. It achieves this by excluding a military member's housing allowance from their annual household income when qualifying them for the tax credit properties.

Bowling told lawmakers that many of NAHB's multifamily members who develop and operate affordable housing built under the LIHTC program in communities with substantial military populations, such as El Paso, are often frustrated in having to turn down some members of the military, particularly junior enlisted personnel, because their income is just over the maximum permitted under the program's rules.

"With the men and women in our Armed Forces facing shortages of affordable housing at duty stations across the country, the situation is only expected to worsen by the transfer of military units as part of the recent Base Realignment and Closure process," he said. "H.R. 3186 would permit more U.S. service members and their families to qualify for housing under the LIHTC program, the finest affordable housing production program in history."

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