Label

Element

Value

Prospectus [Line Items]

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Document Type

dei_DocumentType

485BPOS

Document Period End Date

dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate

Dec. 31, 2014

Registrant Name

dei_EntityRegistrantName

AFL CIO HOUSING INVESTMENT TRUST

Central Index Key

dei_EntityCentralIndexKey

0000225030

Amendment Flag

dei_AmendmentFlag

false

Trading Symbol

dei_TradingSymbol

achit

Document Creation Date

dei_DocumentCreationDate

Apr. 30, 2015

Document Effective Date

dei_DocumentEffectiveDate

Apr. 30, 2015

Prospectus Date

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Apr. 30, 2015

AFL CIO HOUSING INVESTMENT TRUST

Prospectus [Line Items]

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Risk/Return [Heading]

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AFL-CIO HOUSING INVESTMENT TRUST

Objective [Heading]

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HIT’S OBJECTIVES

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

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The investment objective of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Housing Investment Trust (“HIT”) is to generate competitive risk-adjusted total rates of return for its investors (“Participants”) by investing in fixed-income investments, primarily multifamily and single family mortgage-backed securities and mortgage-backed obligations (collectively, “Mortgage Securities”).

Objective, Secondary [Text Block]

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Other important objectives of the HIT are to encourage the construction of housing and to facilitate employment for union members in the construction trades and related industries.  To accomplish its objectives, the HIT focuses its investments in multifamily Mortgage Securities (including those that directly or indirectly finance new construction or rehabilitation of multifamily housing projects and healthcare facilities) and in Mortgage Securities backed by multifamily or single family loans.  All on-site construction work financed through the HIT’s investments is required to be performed by 100% union labor.

Expense [Heading]

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EXPENSES OF THE HIT

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

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This table describes the expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold units of beneficial interest in the HIT (“Units”).  The HIT does not assess any sales charges (loads), redemption fees, exchange fees or any other account fees.

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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ANNUAL HIT OPERATING EXPENSES

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets)

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none

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.02%

Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets):

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.41%

Expenses (as a percentage of Assets)

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.43%

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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The HIT generally conducts securities transactions on a principal-to-principal basis and does not pay commissions for trades.  The HIT may incur transaction costs when it buys and sells certain securities (or “turns over” parts of its portfolio).  A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs.  During the most recent fiscal year, the HIT’s portfolio turnover rate was 18.3% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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18.30%

Expense Example [Heading]

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Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the HIT with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

Expense Example by, Year, Caption [Text]

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The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the HIT for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Units at the end of those periods.  The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the HIT’s operating expenses remain the same.  Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

44

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

138

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

242

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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543

Strategy [Heading]

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PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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The HIT’s principal investment strategy is to construct and manage a portfolio that is composed primarily of multifamily and single family mortgage-backed securities and mortgage-backed obligations (collectively, “Mortgage Securities”) with higher yield, higher credit quality and similar interest rate risk versus the securities in the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index (the “Barclays Aggregate”).  As such, the HIT pursues a fundamental policy to concentrate in fixed-income securities in the mortgage and mortgage finance sector of the real estate industry.  The HIT holds government and agency issued, guaranteed or insured multifamily mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) that have call (or prepayment) protection, in place of corporate debt, some U.S. Treasury securities and some government-sponsored entity debt held in the Barclays Aggregate.  Since government/agency multifamily MBS offer higher yields than comparable securities with similar credit and interest rate risk, the HIT is able to offer superior risk-adjusted returns compared to the Barclays Aggregate.  All securities in which the HIT invests must meet certain requirements described in detail later in this Prospectus and in the HIT’s Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).  Some types of these securities must meet certain standards of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations among other indicia of creditworthiness.  The staff monitors the HIT’s investments compared with those in the Barclays Aggregate and may adjust allocations by purchasing or selling securities.  When deciding whether to buy or sell a specific security the staff compares the security to other similar securities and considers factors such as price, yield, duration and convexity (measures of interest rate sensitivity), servicer, geographic location, call or prepayment protection, as well as liquidity.  The HIT may purchase Mortgage Securities by way of forward commitments.  The HIT does not invest in Mortgage Securities that contain subprime loans.

The HIT uses a variety of strategies to manage risk.  These strategies include, but are not limited to, managing the duration of the HIT portfolio within a range comparable to the Barclays Aggregate, and managing prepayment risk by negotiating prepayment restrictions for Mortgage Securities backed by multifamily housing or healthcare facility projects.  The HIT seeks to minimize the risk of credit and default losses by purchasing securities that are guaranteed, insured, otherwise credit-enhanced or meeting other criteria intended to manage risk.

Risk [Heading]

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PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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There is no assurance that the HIT will meet its investment objective.  The value of the HIT’s investments and the resulting value of the Units may go up or down and Participants’ holdings in the HIT could gain or lose value.  As with any investment, you may lose money by investing in the HIT.  The HIT’s other principal risks are those of investing in fixed-income securities, which include the following types of risks:

General Risk: The value of securities held by the HIT may fall, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political or regulatory conditions, inflation, changes in interest rates or adverse investor sentiment.

Interest Rate Risk:  As with any fixed-income investment, the market value of the HIT’s investments will generally fall when market interest rates rise.  Rising interest rates may also reduce prepayment rates, causing the average life of certain securities of the HIT to increase, which could in turn further reduce the value of the HIT’s portfolio.

Prepayment and Extension Risk:  Generally, the market value of the HIT’s investments will rise at times when market interest rates fall.  However, at times when rates fall below the interest rates on the investments, some borrowers may prepay the HIT’s fixed-income securities or their underlying mortgages more quickly than might otherwise be the case.  In such an event, the HIT may be required to reinvest the proceeds of such prepayments in other investments bearing lower interest rates than those which were prepaid.  When market interest rates rise above the interest rates of the HIT’s investments, the prepayment rate of the mortgage loans backing certain HIT securities may decrease, causing the average maturity of the HIT’s investments to lengthen and making these investments more sensitive to interest rate changes.  This could, in turn, further reduce the value of the HIT’s portfolio and make the HIT’s Unit price more volatile.

Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk of loss of principal and interest as a result of a failure of a credit enhancement backing the HIT’s investments after a default on the underlying mortgage loan or other asset, a downgrading of the credit rating (or a perceived decline in the creditworthiness) of an investment or the provider of the credit enhancement for an investment, or a decline in the value of assets underlying the mortgage loan or other asset.

Default Risk: There is a risk that borrowers may default under the mortgage loans or other assets that directly or indirectly secure the HIT’s investments, including commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”).  In the event of default, the HIT may experience a loss of principal and interest and any premium value on the related securities.  This risk may be lessened to the extent that the securities are guaranteed or insured by a third party, including an agency of the U.S. government.

Liquidity Risk:  Markets for particular types of securities may experience issues with liquidity.  That is, a lack of buyers at a particular time could negatively impact the value of a security during such period, even though over time the payment obligations under the security may be met.  Markets for some of the types of securities in which the HIT may invest have experienced liquidity issues in the past, and its investments may experience liquidity issues in the future.

Leverage Risk:  The use of some investment or investing techniques may have the effect of magnifying, or leveraging, the effect of small changes in an asset, index or market.  The HIT does not leverage its portfolio through the use of borrowings or derivatives, but it may invest in forward commitments which may effectively add leverage to its portfolio.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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 As with any investment, you may lose money by investing in the HIT. 

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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HIT PAST PERFORMANCE

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The bar chart below and the following table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the HIT by illustrating how returns can differ from one year to the next.  The table also shows how the HIT’s average annual total returns for the one-, five-, and ten-year periods compared with those of a broad measure of market performance.  The HIT’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the HIT will perform in the future.  Updated performance information is available from the HIT’s website at www.aflcio-hit.com.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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The bar chart below and the following table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the HIT by illustrating how returns can differ from one year to the next. 

Performance Additional Market Index [Text]

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The table also shows how the HIT’s average annual total returns for the one-, five-, and ten-year periods compared with those of a broad measure of market performance.  

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress

www.aflcio-hit.com

Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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The HIT’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the HIT will perform in the future.

Bar Chart [Heading]

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ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

(Calendar Years - Net of Operating Expenses)

Annual Return 2005

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2.64%

Annual Return 2006

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4.65%

Annual Return 2007

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6.70%

Annual Return 2008

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5.25%

Annual Return 2009

rr_AnnualReturn2009

6.28%

Annual Return 2010

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6.16%

Annual Return 2011

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7.86%

Annual Return 2012

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4.27%

Annual Return 2013

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(2.37%)

Annual Return 2014

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6.10%

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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During the ten-year period identified in the bar chart above, the highest return for a quarter was 3.91% (quarter ended September 30, 2006) and the lowest return for a quarter was -2.48% (quarter ended June 30, 2013).

Highest Quarterly Return, Label

rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel

the highest return for a quarter

Highest Quarterly Return, Date

rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate

Sep. 30, 2006

Highest Quarterly Return

rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn

3.91%

Lowest Quarterly Return, Label

rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel

the lowest return for a quarter

Lowest Quarterly Return, Date

rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate

Jun. 30, 2013

Lowest Quarterly Return

rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn

(2.48%)

Performance Table Heading

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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

(for the periods ended December 31, 2014)

1 Year

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6.10%

5 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

4.34%

10 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.72%

AFL CIO HOUSING INVESTMENT TRUST | Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index (reflects no deductions for fees or expenses)

Prospectus [Line Items]

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1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

5.97%

5 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

4.45%

10 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.71%