The United States housing market has failed to create homes that every person, regardless of disability, can access and afford. Approximately 1 in 7 (37 million) US adults with mobility-related disabilities only have access to less than five percent of the nation’s housing stock. For wheelchair users, less than one percent of housing is accessible. For people with sensory and other disabilities, the shortage is equal or greater. By 2030, one in five Americans will be over 65, and currently, two in five adults over 65 have a disability. People with disabilities and older adults disproportionately need affordable housing.

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), the nation’s primary driver of affordable housing, does not have any in-unit requirements for mobility or sensory access, contributing to the severe shortage of accessible, affordable housing for people with disabilities. One important solution is The Visitable Inclusive Tax Credits for Accessible Living (VITAL) Act (S.1377 / H.R. 3963). This bill would increase affordable, accessible housing by adding funding, requirements, and incentives to the LIHTC program. We need to urge all members of Congress to sign on!

What Will The VITAL Act Do?

The bill would increase new accessible, affordable housing by adding funding, requirements, and incentives. This would specifically:

• Increase the overall funding for LIHTC for both 4 and 9 percent credits.

• Increase the funding available to developers who build units:

• designed for people with disabilities

• located in places that connect people to their communities and do not isolate them, with high neighborhood transit access, walkability, or roll-ability

• Require that at least 40 percent of their LIHTC units states construct are disability adaptable/accessible, or at least 20% if they are also located in walkable/rollable areas.

• Allocate each state housing finance authority $150,000 to establish LIHTC resource centers to support new and nonprofit developers.

• Create a cross-divisional housing national advisory council to provide general recommendations on national LIHTC trends.

The list of organizational endorsements continues to grow and includes:

The Kelsey, LeadingAge, Pathways to Housing PA, TriageCancer, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Liberty Housing Development Cooperation, National Council on Independent Living, National Disability Rights Network, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, The Arc of the United States, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Justice in Aging, National Housing Law Project, National Council on Aging, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National NeighborWorks Association, Paralyzed Veterans of America, TASH, ANCOR, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, The Amputee Coalition, Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, National Association of the Deaf, American Walks, Community Solutions, American Foundation of the Blind, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Caring Across Generations, YIMBY Action, Center for Law and Social Policy, and The American Council of the Blind.