Everyone who wants to live in a walkable area should be able to, but there just simply isn’t enough supply. New development is dramatically skewed towards sprawling suburbs on the fringes of town far from jobs and affordable transportation. The REHAB Act—Revitalizing Economies, Housing, And Businesses Act—is a bipartisan bill that would create a federal tax credit to support redeveloping old (but non-historic) buildings near public transportation.

The REHAB Act (H.R. 1483) is a simple, straightforward way to help encourage new housing and businesses in the downtowns and other walkable areas where people want to be. This legislation can help provide the financing to local builders that is critical to closing the gap so they can help revitalize downtowns, upgrade deteriorating public infrastructure, and expand access to attainable housing. Redeveloping sites near transit is good, but only projects that provide new units of attainable housing and/or invest in public infrastructure—like better bus stops, new street lighting, sidewalks, bike lanes, rain gardens, street repaving, to name a few—can qualify for the maximum tax credit.

The REHAB Act would be a smart addition to any future infrastructure or stimulus bill responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting development and infrastructure investments that communities need right now.

Learn more about this bipartisan bill with the graphic at the bottom of this page, which you can download here (pdf) to share.

---