This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the landmark legislation signed on October 22, 1986 by President Reagan that created the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit). Congress created the Housing Credit to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of affordable apartments for low-income working families by offering owners of such housing a credit against tax liability for 10 years. While no one could predict its future at the time, the Housing Credit has gone on to become the most successful rental housing program in history with over 2.4 million units of affordable, quality apartments constructed and preserved in rural, suburban, and urban areas across the country
About 6,800 units of rental housing in Vermont was developed through the use of the housing credit, comprising more than half of Vermont's total stock of subsidized, rental housing.