House panel advances bill to expand down-payment assistance, shift bond allocation toward affordable multifamily development

House Financial Institutions Committee members on Thursday advanced House Bill 1519 after the bill's author and several housing-sector witnesses described the measure as a way to expand down-payment assistance and channel more federal low-income housing tax credit resources into new multifamily construction.

Representative Rosemary Miller, the bill's author, told the committee the measure would continue the state's down-payment assistance program while increasing the eligible area median income (AMI) ceiling to 160%. "What that really does in today's housing market is simply, takes that price point from say $200,000 up to $300,000 for those providers," Miller said, describing the change as critical for bringing more housing to market.

The bill was amended in committee to strike the original appropriation language and to add language allowing the down-payment fund to…