BREAKING: “Hinson’s Company Took Advantage of Public Funding for Affordable Housing, then Built ‘Luxury’ Homes Priced Far Above Median Home Prices”
MeidasTouch News: “Hinson’s Company Performed a Bait-and-Switch, Took the Tax Credits and Built Expensive ‘Luxury’ Homes That Were Above Median Value and Pricing Out Workers”
DES MOINES – A breaking report from MeidasTouch News has found that Ashley Hinson and her husband performed a “bait-and-switch” in which their development company took advantage of tax credits Hinson pushed for in the state legislature and then “jack[ed]up rents and sale prices” of homes they constructed.
In the rural towns of Clear Lake and Mt. Pleasant, Hinson’s company “built expensive ‘luxury’ homes that were above medium value and pricing out workers,” despite promising in their application for tax credits that they would build “affordable rural workforce housing.”
During this whole time, Hinson’s stake in the company “skyrocketed” by up to “10x.”
Missed the report? See below for more key highlights:
MeidasTouch News: Ashley Hinson pushed a tax credit for developers of affordable rural homes, her company took the credit and then jacked up sales prices
- As a legislator from Iowa and a member of the U.S. House, Iowa Republican Senate Candidate Ashley Hinson backed workforce housing tax credits to build affordable homes in rural Iowa. Her husband’s development company took advantage of the tax credits while jacking up rents and sale prices. In the meantime, Hinson’s stake in the company skyrocketed.
- In 2017, while a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, Hinson helped pass Senate File 488, a bill that established an annual $5 million Workforce Housing Tax Credit set-aside for the 88 least-populated counties in Iowa.
- In 2021, soon after Hinson was elected to the U.S. House, Hinson’s husband Matthew Arenholz helped create a property development company called BAM Development, LLC. Hinson disclosed value from BAM Development, LLC on her financial disclosure records.
- In May 2023, BAM Development petitioned the city of Clear Lake in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa for tax credits for a workforce housing project.
- In November of 2024 it was reported that BAM Development, LLC received $500,000 from the city of Clear Lake for payment towards the costs of “public infrastructure” construction in the housing project and support for the company’s tax credit application. BAM Development was then awarded $1 million in workforce housing tax credits to develop the 30 townhome units in Clear Lake.
- In 2024 as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Hinson requested $2.5 million in appropriations for the North Iowa Corridor Workforce Housing Initiative in Cerro Gordo County. She requested $3 million for the same project in 2025.
- Hinson’s 2024 and 2025 financial disclosures revealed that her stake in Bam Development increased dramatically in the period while she was requesting appropriations for workforce housing in rural Iowa. In her 2024 disclosure she reported a stake in BAM Development between $50,001 and $100,000. By 2025, the stake had increased anywhere from 2.5X to 10X with her disclosure now between $250,001 and $500,000.
- Despite the massive public financial rewards Hinson’s company got for building townhomes in a rural area, they still jacked up the price of rent and home sales for their units. Even though on its application for the tax credits, BAM Development, LLC had claimed the Emerald Cove townhomes would cost as little $275,000 to buy, the units were later listed as “Luxury Condos.” Two sold for $400,000 and $402,000, which was $65,000 above the average home price in Clear Lake at the time.
- The entire point of BAM Development’s application for tax credits was predicated on the idea of building affordable rural workforce housing. But after reaping all the public benefits of building affordable homes, Hinson’s company performed a bait-and-switch, took the tax credits and built expensive “luxury” homes that were above median value and pricing out workers. All the while, Hinson’s value in the company skyrocketed.
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