TPA Praises Passage of Housing Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) praised the House for passing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. While the legislation retains costly restrictions against large investors buying single-family homes, it notably excludes a controversial Senate provision that requires a seven-year divestiture period for build-to-rent homes. President Trump voiced support for the House version of the legislation, which also has the backing of House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

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

“While this legislation is far from perfect, it is a win for the millions of consumers priced out of an increasingly unaffordable housing market. Four million new homes need to be built to keep pace with demand, and heavy-handed rules are holding back new construction. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and her allies in Congress were determined to chill investment with an onerous mandate on investors to sell off single-family homes. Fortunately, President Trump rejected that deeply misguided proposal and sided with the American people.

“House leadership deserves praise for not caving to the Senate’s harmful divestiture proposal. Institutional investors own less than one percent of U.S. single-family houses, and are buying less than 2 percent of all homes. Forcing them to sell off properties would benefit no one and prompt investors to think twice before building new houses. Unfortunately, an unnecessary purchase restriction on large investors survived into the final bill—a hollow concession to anti-housing ideologues that will not bring a single new home within reach of working families. Congress got the most consequential call right, but this restriction is a self-inflicted wound that lawmakers should soon revisit. Policymakers should make it as easy as possible to build, and work with localities to pare back local land-use restrictions and other costly regulations. Without the looming threat of forced divestiture, Americans can once again build new houses.

“The hard work of housing reform is just beginning. Policymakers should continue removing barriers that drive up construction costs, delay new development, and limit housing supply in growing communities. That includes streamlining permitting processes, modernizing outdated zoning rules, and ensuring environmental reviews cannot be abused to indefinitely block projects. If elected officials are serious about improving affordability, they can and must make housing less expensive to build and maintain.”

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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.