Congress can help make housing affordable — it just has to act
By Robert E. Rubin and Rob Portman for The Hill
Home sale signs are posted along Topanga Canyon road in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2023. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors on reports on existing home sales for October. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The Barrister Apartments in downtown Cincinnati, slated to open early next year, are a housing policy success story. Financed with federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, it is the first investment in affordable housing in the city’s central business district in more than two decades.
The project involves rehabilitating two vacant office buildings into rental apartments for service workers making no more than 60 percent of the area median income. Not only will residents have shorter commutes to work — saving time and transportation costs and cutting down on emissions — they’ll also save on rent, freeing up money for other important priorities, such as food, education or a down payment on a home.
