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Op-Ed

A Republican Bailout for Blue Cities? The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Trap Explained

The Hill

July 3, 2025

The Republican Party’s much-touted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” includes a $14 billion bailout for some of America’s worst-run cities, all thanks to the proposed expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Doing so would funnel billions more into a program that props up a fundamentally broken housing system without adding the new supply desperately needed to solve the housing crisis

Consider the staggering costs: the average LIHTC unit costs taxpayers $450,000; in California, it routinely exceeds $1 million per unit. Yet because LIHTC funds are largely allocated to the states based on population, the program attracts bipartisan support. 

This subsidy is unnecessary for two key reasons.

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