The Senate has passed the largest housing bill in decades — bipartisan legislation designed to improve housing affordability and availability through deregulation, expanding old programs and banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes, with few exceptions.
The bill passed 89 to 10.
“It’s Democrats. It’s Republicans. It’s pieces they built out together,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a co-sponsor of the bill, in an interview with NPR. “That is the strength of this bill.”
“It’s not a Republican issue or a Democrat Issue,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the bill’s other sponsor, speaking in advance of the vote on the Senate floor. “It’s an issue about helping moms like the one who raised me, the amazing woman that she was, become homeowners.”
The major difference between the two bills is the Senate’s introduction of a ban that would prevent any investor that owns at least 350 homes from buying more.
There are some exceptions to the bill’s limits on institutional owners, such as **allowing investors to buy homes needing serious renovation in order to bring them up to code, and allowing investors to own new homes constructed for renting, **known as build-to-rent. But investors would be required to sell those homes after seven years, with the renter having first dibs to purchase.
In an open letter, 79 industry groups representing property managers like the Institute of Real Estate Management, as well as advocacy organizations pushing for more local housing construction, said they support new housing legislation but believe the Senate version should remove the sale requirement on build-to-rent homes. The letter warns that the provision “would effectively eliminate the production of Build-to-Rent (BTR) housing.”
So basically the only provision in the BTR housing that is good for consumers is what they want removed so they can build and own an infinite number of forever to rent properties. And if its an already constructed property they can pay a goon to rough it up enough so it needs serious renovations to bypass their 350 home limit and acquire it cheaper.
The ease on regulations come in form of lowered quality of construction and less environmental safety during construction. No ease on regulation for zoning that would actually help create better communities.
“We put this bill together with the deep-seated belief that it is families who should live in homes and that’s what homes are for,” said Warren. “They’re not there simply as investment vehicles for Wall Street private equity.”
Eat shit Warren
So they’ll either sic Pinkerton types on properties to trash them, or they’ll build things so cheaply that they fall apart at the 7 year mark, or they’ll find a way to sell it to themselves through shell companies.
So thought. Very protection. Wow. GG dumbasses…
Woah woah woah, why are your having Warren eat shit? She’s probably the reason the 7 year sell clause is even in the bill in the first place.
Will it get removed and entirely defeat the purpose? Probably - but I’m still not sure that’s her fault!
DeMoCrAt BaD tHo. soMeHoW wOrSe tHaN rEpUbLiCaN
Banning investors from buying singles family homes is definitely a plus, but I get nervous when I hear ‘deregulation’.
Yup getting corporate out of home buying is wonderful but they just cut a whole slew of environmental protections AND lowered standard for manufactured homes.
Basically the only way to get any Republicans to sign off was to screw over more Americans And make this place more of a shithole. And I’m sure corporations have already found a workaround for this bill.
Oh that’s easy. Turns out everyone on the board is now a landlord for like 100 properties each, they’re all simply ADMINISTERED through the corporation, for which each board member pays a modest fee.
Depends on the deregulation. I haven’t read the bill, but bans on mixed-use zoning could definitely go.
Deregulation on building is almost certainly a good thing.
Specifically zoning laws. Personally I’m fine with keeping heavy industry away from residential but light industry, commercial, and residential should be more mixed. Same thing with certain forms of agriculture, we need to blanket legalise chickens in residential areas.
I like chickens in a home setting but I’m not sure having more of them in our neighborhoods is a good idea right now considering the widespread bird flu going around
I think this will definitely help. It’s not going to completely fix the problem, but it should help. But, the problem of affordability cannot be fully addressed until profit is taken completely out of housing.
