I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7351 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for lowincome housing supportive services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2020 

Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, and Ms. JUDY CHU of California) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit for low-income housing supportive services. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Opportunity Starts At 

5 Home Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING SUPPORTIVE 

7 SERVICES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by inserting after section 42 the fol2 lowing new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 42A. CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOW-INCOME 

4 HOUSING SUPPORTIVE SERVICES. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 

6 amount of the low-income housing supportive services 

7 credit determined under this section for the applicable tax8 able year is an amount equal to 25 percent of the qualified 

9 supportive housing contribution made by the taxpayer. 

10 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUSING CONTRIBU11 TION.—For purposes of this section— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified sup13 portive housing contribution’ means the total 

14 amount contributed in cash by the taxpayer to a 

15 qualified supportive housing reserve fund with re16 spect to a qualified low-income building, determined 

17 as of the date the building is placed in service. 

18 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUSING RE19 SERVE FUND.—The term ‘qualified supportive hous20 ing reserve fund’ means, with respect to any quali21 fied low-income building, a separate fund reserved 

22 exclusively for payment for qualified supportive serv23 ices provided to tenants of the building pursuant to 

24 an extended supportive services commitment. The 

25 owner of such building shall designate an adminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351

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1 trator to separately account for the amounts in the 

2 fund in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe. 

3 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No amount attrib5 utable to any governmental grant, including 

6 grants provided by the government of any 

7 State, possession, tribe, or locality, shall be 

8 taken into account under paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(B) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The total 

10 qualified supportive housing contributions taken 

11 into account under this section with respect to 

12 any qualified low-income building shall not ex13 ceed— 

14 ‘‘(i) $120,000, multiplied by 

15 ‘‘(ii) the number of low-income units 

16 in the building which are occupied at the 

17 close of the applicable taxable year. 

18 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE TAXABLE YEAR.—For purposes of 

19 this section, the term ‘applicable taxable year’ means the 

20 1st taxable year in the credit period with respect to the 

21 qualified low-income building described in subsection 

22 (b)(1). 

23 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—For pur24 poses of this section, the term ‘qualified supportive serv25 ices’ means services— 


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1 ‘‘(1) provided by the owner of a qualified low2 income building (directly or through contracts with 

3 a third-party service provider) to tenants of the 

4 building, 

5 ‘‘(2) which include health services (including 

6 mental health services), coordination of tenant bene7 fits, job training, financial counseling, resident en8 gagement services, or services the principal purpose 

9 of which is to help tenants retain permanent hous10 ing, or such other services as the Secretary may by 

11 regulation provide, 

12 ‘‘(3) which are provided at no cost to tenants, 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(4) usage of or participation in which is not 

15 required for tenants. 

16 Such term includes reasonable and necessary measures for 

17 the provision of such services, including measures to en18 gage tenants in and coordinate such services and measures 

19 required to obtain the certification described in subsection 

20 (e)(4). 

21 ‘‘(e) EXTENDED SUPPORTIVE SERVICES COMMIT22 MENT.—The term ‘extended supportive services commit23 ment’ means any agreement between the owner of a quali24 fied low-income building and the housing credit agency 

25 which— 


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1 ‘‘(1) requires that amounts in a qualified sup2 portive housing reserve fund are spent exclusively on 

3 the provision of qualified supportive services to ten4 ants of such building, 

5 ‘‘(2) requires that the amounts in such fund be 

6 spent entirely during the extended use period, and 

7 provides for the manner in which such spending will 

8 be distributed across such period, 

9 ‘‘(3) requires the designation of 1 or more indi10 viduals to engage tenants regarding and coordinate 

11 delivery of qualified supportive services, 

12 ‘‘(4) requires the maintenance of an appro13 priate certification, as determined by the Secretary 

14 after consultation with housing credit agencies, for 

15 qualified supportive services, subject to recertifi16 cation at least once every 5 years, 

17 ‘‘(5) requires appropriate annual reporting to 

18 the housing credit agency on expenditures and out19 comes, as determined by such agency, and 

20 ‘‘(6) is binding on all successors in ownership of 

21 such building. 

22 ‘‘(f) RECAPTURE OF QUALIFIED SUPPORTIVE HOUS23 ING RESERVE AMOUNTS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the owner of a qualified 

25 low-income building is determined to be noncompliVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:19 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7351.IH H7351

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1 ant with the extended supportive services commit2 ment or extended low-income housing commitment 

3 with respect to such building, any remaining 

4 amounts in the qualified supportive housing reserve 

5 fund with respect to such building shall be trans6 ferred to the housing credit agency. 

7 ‘‘(2) USE OF REPAYMENTS.—A housing credit 

8 agency shall use any amount received pursuant to 

9 paragraph (1) only for purposes of qualified low-in10 come buildings. 

11 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

13 provision of this section, no credit shall be allowed 

14 under this section for any taxable year with respect 

15 to any qualified low-income building unless— 

16 ‘‘(A) the building has received an alloca17 tion of the low-income housing credit under sec18 tion 42 by a housing credit agency which is ap19 proved by the governmental unit (in accordance 

20 with rules similar to the rules of section 

21 147(f)(2) (other than subparagraph (B)(ii) 

22 thereof)) of which such agency is a part, 

23 ‘‘(B) the housing credit agency sets forth 

24 selection criteria to determine appropriate, evi25 dence-based supportive services and provides a 


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1 procedure that the agency (or an agent or other 

2 private contractor of such agency) will follow in 

3 monitoring for noncompliance with the provi4 sions of this section and in reporting such non5 compliance to the Secretary, 

6 ‘‘(C) an extended low-income housing com7 mitment is in effect with respect to such build8 ing as of the end of such taxable year, 

9 ‘‘(D) an extended supportive services com10 mitment is in effect with respect to such build11 ing as of the end of such taxable year, and 

12 ‘‘(E) appropriate books and records for 

13 itemized expenses and expenditures with respect 

14 to the qualified supportive housing reserve fund 

15 are maintained on an annual basis, and are 

16 available for inspection upon request by the 

17 housing credit agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—The de19 ductions otherwise allowed under this chapter for the 

20 taxable year shall be reduced by the amount of the 

21 credit allowed under this section for such taxable 

22 year. 

23 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—Any term used in this section 

24 which is also used in section 42 shall have the same mean25 ing as when used in such section.’’. 


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1 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

2 CREDIT.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(b) of the Internal 

4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

5 ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (32), by striking the 

6 period at the end of paragraph (33) and inserting ‘‘, 

7 plus’’, and by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(34) the low-income housing supportive serv10 ices credit determined under section 42A(a).’’. 

11 (2) TREATMENT AS SPECIFIED CREDIT.— 

12 Clause (iii) of section 38(c)(4)(B) of such Code is 

13 amended by inserting ‘‘, and the credit determined 

14 under section 42A’’ after ‘‘2007’’. 

15 (c) TREATMENT FOR PURPOSES OF TAX ON BASE

16 EROSION PAYMENTS.—Paragraph (4) of section 59A(b) 

17 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by re18 designating subparagraphs (B) and (C) as subparagraphs 

19 (C) and (D), respectively, and by inserting after subpara20 graph (A) the following new subparagraph: 

21 ‘‘(B) the low-income housing supportive 

22 services credit determined under section 

23 42A(a),’’. 

24 (d) PASSIVE ACTIVITY CREDITS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 469 of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘42’’ 

3 each place it appears in subsections (i)(3)(C), 

4 (i)(6)(B)(i), and (k)(1) and inserting ‘‘42 or 42A’’. 

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The head6 ings of subsections (i)(3)(C) and (i)(6)(B) of section 

7 469 of such Code are each amended by striking 

8 ‘‘CREDIT’’ and inserting ‘‘CREDITS’’. 

9 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

10 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

11 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in12 serting after the item relating to section 42 the following 

13 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 42A. Credit for contributions to low-income housing supportive services.’’. 

14 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to buildings placed in service after 

16 December 31, 2020. 

Æ 


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