AWC Tees Up Affordable Housing Focus

AWC increased its efforts to support federal affordable housing policies that address our nation’s critical shortfall in a manner that opens up new markets for wood use. We hosted an open house as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Innovative Housing Showcase. Mercer Mass Timber, an AWC member, along with Green Canopy NODE, a Seattle-based engineering and construction company, exhibited a model prefabricated mass timber home as part of the showcase on the National Mall.

The open house highlighted the various roles wood products can play in reducing the built environment’s carbon footprint, increasing the housing supply, and lowering the cost of housing construction. Congressional staff, along with representatives from HUD, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Institute of Architects, and more, toured the display and asked questions following a short series of remarks.

Additionally, to help educate the administration about mass timber’s potential use in affordable housing, AWC’s President & CEO Jackson Morrill authored an article in HUD’s research publication, Cityscape. His article, “Mass Timber: A Sustainable Building Solution,” takes a deep dive into mass timber research and makes the case that it’s a viable climate solution. The article introduces the types of mass timber and details the research-proven benefits of the material while recognizing the recent projects in Washington and Connecticut.

Finally, AWC joined the Neighborhood Homes Coalition, a national advocacy group of over 35 organizations supporting the enactment of the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA). NHIA would create a business tax credit for certain development costs for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or remediation of qualified real property. Supporters claim that the bill, if enacted, would produce 500,000 new starter homes nationwide, and support 861,000 jobs in construction and construction-related industries.

In many areas nationwide, the cost to build or rehab a home exceeds the price at which the home could be sold once completed. The new tax credit would help fill that “value gap” — up to 35 percent of eligible development costs for new homes — thus reducing the developer’s risk of loss and encouraging investments in new and rehabbed housing. In turn, this increased development will spur additional demand for light frame construction and our members’ products.

AWC and its members have identified the housing crisis as one of our key priorities going into 2025. In collaboration with the Neighborhood Homes Coalition, we will be working on the NHIA as well as working with congressional partners to push for an expansion of low-income housing tax credits.