I was at a community meeting in San Jose last month when a housing advocate passed around a photo of families in a newly built affordable complex. The smiles were real. Parents didn’t just gain housing — they gained hope, stability and a foothold in a place where the median home now hovers near $2 million.

Today, that kind of building seems a lot tougher to deliver.

With the passage of H.R.1 by Congress in July, many people in the housing field felt some reason to celebrate. On paper, the new bill offers quite a bit for housing: a permanent 12% boost to the 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, a reduction in the bond-financing threshold for 4% credits from 50% to 25% and permanent authorization for the New Markets Tax Credit. Analysts say this could produce hundreds of thousands, even more

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