A bill to incentivize the construction of affordable housing lost some support from its originating chamber Monday following Senate changes, but still advanced to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk on a 71-23 vote.
Earlier this year, House Bill 1005 passed the House with near-unanimous support but lost the vote of several Democrats and three Republicans following Senate amendments.
In particular, Democrats who spoke said they couldn’t support the lack of guardrails for residential tax incremental financing (TIF) districts added by the Senate. Senate sponsor Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, added TIF language from one of her other bills that didn’t receive a House hearing.
The underlying bill creates a revolving loan fund benefitting mostly rural communities with flexible zoning laws that incentivize affordable housing. The loans could only be used toward infrastructure projects, like sewage and sidewalk construction.
The next state budget will include funding for the measure though it is still being finalized. Earlier versions included $75 million over two years.
Rep. Cherrish Pryor is pushing back against millions going to a pro-birth group. (Monroe Bush for Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Rogers’ addition allowed localities to utilize TIF more broadly, without a 1% geographical limit, though bill author Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, said negotiations shortened the length of the TIF’s from 25 years down to 20 years.
“(It) was a significant bill that needed discussion,” Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis said. “A committee did not have an opportunity to talk about something (s0) drastic that’s going to make a significant difference on housing.”
Democrats argued that the TIF proposal, without the same parameters as current TIF law, would take funding away from other local government services, such as fire departments and schools. Under Rogers’ language, schools no longer have veto power over proposed TIFs.
But not all of Pryor’s colleagues agreed with her – ten from her caucus voted in support of the bill. None of them spoke publicly about their position but neither did the three Republicans who voted against the measure.
Miller insisted that despite the addition of the TIF language, the bill still met its original goal of incentivizing affordable housing.
“We need workforce housing. We have a lot of our cities and towns that have areas that are blighted and need to be rebuilt,” Miller said. “This bill gives (locals) the opportunity to do that.”