House committee advances bill to broaden down-payment assistance, raise AMI to 160%

House Financial Institutions Committee — The House Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday voted 11–1 to advance House Bill 1519, a package that would expand the state's down-payment assistance program and create a financing path intended to spur more multifamily affordable housing.

Representative Rosemary Miller, the bill's author, told the committee the measure has two parts: continuing a repayable down-payment assistance fund and'"growing the available market through that by increasing the AMI to 160%." She said that change "in today's housing market . . . simply takes that price point from say 200,000 up to 300,000" for participating builders and developers.

The measure also would allow the state to optimize existing federal and state financing tools by shifting some bond volume toward low-income housing tax credits to encourage new multifamily construction. "If we get an appropriation of 30,000,000 this year, then we just move 30,000,000 of the bond allocation to the…