Missouri House passes bill to re-start low-income housing

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House has passed legislation to re-start a state tax credit program for low-income housing.

Missouri authorized about $148 million of state tax credits for the program in 2017. But since then, it has distributed only federal housing tax credits because of concerns the matching state program is an inefficient way to spur development of low-income housing.

A bill passed Thursday by the House seeks to re-start the program while paring it back. It would limit state tax credits to $123 million annually or 72.5% of the federal allocation, whichever is less.

Developers typically sell the tax credits at discounted rates to get upfront cash for their projects.

The bill still needs a final vote from the Senate, which previously passed a different version.