The United for Homes campaign is pretty straightforward:
We want to reform the mortgage interest deduction, which would create almost $200 billion in revenue over ten years. And then, we want to use this new revenue to finally fund the National Housing Trust Fund!
What may seem more complicated is the actual proposal to reform the mortgage interest deduction, but that too, can easily be broken down. There are two main points to our proposal:
- Reduce the size of a mortgage eligible for the tax break to $500,000, and
- Convert the deduction to a 15% non-refundable tax credit.
Under current law, taxpayers can deduct the interest paid in that tax year on a home mortgage of up to $1 million. United for Homes proposes lowering the cap from $1 million to $500,000.
Now here comes a big myth: This will hurt many homeowners in my community.
The reality is just 4% of all mortgages in the U.S. are over $500,000, according to an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2007-2011.
As Sheila and Joe prepared to set out on the Michigan road trip, we took a deeper look at the mortgages in the state. Thanks to our savvy NLIHC Research team, we were able to prepare this map that reveals the percentages of mortgages over $500,000 in each county.
The Michigan map has been very useful for Sheila and Joe as they present the United for Homes campaign, and we have state and county data available to help YOU educate others!
Yesterday in Flint, Amy Hoyer from Representative Dan Kildee’s office attended the community meeting. Amy spoke about the importance of advocates connecting with federal elected officials through calls and letters. She said it was critical that elected officials hear from their constituents on any proposal that may seem controversial.
TAKE ACTION! We encourage you to contact your elected officials about the United for Homes proposal, and to use your state and county data to inform them on the actual percentage of mortgages over $500,000. After all, who doesn’t love bustin’ myths.
Click here to look up the percentages of mortgages in your state that are over $500,000.
For county data, email althea@nlihc.org.
On the Home Front 
Great to have you here and to help people to understand this issue. Salem Housing CDC was glad to be able to host this event. Let’s all work together to end homelessness now!