Advocacy Spotlight: Speak up to support improvements to the Federal Historic Tax Credit

The Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-Go) ((H.R. 2941/S. 1459), recently introduced by Reps. Darin LaHood (R‑IL), Tom Suozzi (D‑NY), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R‑LA), and Sen. Mark Warner (D‑VA), proposes several changes to the federal Historic Tax Credit that would make it more effective and easier to use for the rehabilitation of historic buildings in Main Street districts. As Congress is quickly moving to craft tax legislation, now is the time to contact your representatives to request their support.

The Historic Tax Credit is a vital tool for Main Street districts

The Historic Tax Credit (HTC) is a 20% credit on the qualified rehabilitation costs of a structure either listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places or listed as a contributing structure to a historic district. The HTC has spurred the rehabilitation of over 49,000 historic buildings, has created nearly 3 million jobs, and has produced over 199,000 low and moderate-income affordable housing units, according to the National Park Service HTC Annual Report (2023). Each year, almost half of all completed HTC projects are less than $1 million in project size. Historically, almost 10% of HTC projects have been located within the boundaries of Main Street districts.

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