Consumer Watchdog Applauds Housing Bill Becoming Law, Calls for Repeal of Investor Restrictions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) applauded the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) becoming law. On June 23, the House passed this legislation, which eases federal permitting requirements for housing construction and rolls back rules on building manufactured homes. Despite improvements over previous versions, TPA continued to criticize restrictions on large institutional investors purchasing additional single-family homes. The watchdog warned that these needless rules threaten to thwart critical investments into housing supply.

Ross Marchand, Executive Director of TPA, offered the following comment:

“While far from perfect, this law is a step in the right direction for housing affordability. The American housing market has long been trapped in a dense thicket of local red tape, permitting delays, and costly bureaucratic hurdles that artificially inflate building costs and throttle supply. By shifting the federal focus toward cutting red tape and streamlining often-duplicative environmental reviews, this new law clears a path for the market to build the homes American families so desperately need. America has a housing supply gap of more than four million homes, and regulatory reform is long overdue to meet soaring demand.

“Lawmakers deserve applause for rejecting the Senate’s most damaging proposal: a forced seven-year divestiture mandate on single-family rental homes owned by large institutional investors. Had this provision become law, it would have chilled vital investments in build-to-rent and renovate-to-rent communities, halted new construction, and stripped rental options away from the very families lawmakers claim to protect. However, the remaining restrictions on large institutional investors undermine sound housing policy by stymying much-needed investments into housing supply. Congress should repeal this harmful provision immediately.

“The task of housing reform is far from finished. It is up to localities to remove the lion’s share of red tape holding back housing. And federal lawmakers must end harmful restrictions on investors. With these pivotal steps, a new generation will be able to afford the American Dream.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.