{"id":1869,"date":"2022-11-30T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/affordable-housing-new-federal-legislation-designed-to-help-oregon-nation\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:04:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:04:41","slug":"affordable-housing-new-federal-legislation-designed-to-help-oregon-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/affordable-housing-new-federal-legislation-designed-to-help-oregon-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vivienda asequible: nueva legislaci\u00f3n federal dise\u00f1ada para ayudar a Oreg\u00f3n y a la naci\u00f3n"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the nation
\ncontinues to face a crisis of housing affordability, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff
\nMerkley has introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act.<\/p>\n

The legislation is
\naimed at ending Wall Street ownership of residential housing.<\/p>\n

While aspects of the
\nhousing crisis\u2014 including a supply shortage\u2014will take years to remedy, others
\ncan be addressed immediately, according to Merkley, including a ban on hedge
\nfunds and private equity firms owning and controlling large parts of the
\nAmerican housing market, and in turn dedicate revenue from this bill for down
\npayment assistance to homebuyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone should
\nhave a safe, affordable place to call home,\u201d Merkley said. \u201cIn every corner of
\nthe country, giant financial corporations are buying up housing and driving up
\nboth rents and home prices. They\u2019re pouring fuel on the fire of the affordable
\nhousing crisis that so many of our communities are facing, leaving working
\nfamilies behind. The housing in our neighborhoods should be homes for people,
\nnot profit centers for Wall Street. It\u2019s time for Congress to put in place
\ncommonsense guardrails that ensure all families have a fair chance to buy or
\nrent a home in their community at a price they can afford.\u201d?<\/p>\n

Following the 2008
\nhousing crisis, large private equity firms and hedge funds bought substantial
\nportfolios of foreclosed homes as an investment opportunity. The federal
\ngovernment enabled this growth through bulk sales of federally-backed mortgages
\nand foreclosed properties. This decision excluded ordinary families, and
\nmission- driven non-profits from buying these homes and returning them to
\nfamilies in need of stable housing, according to a release from Merkleys’ office.<\/p>\n

“Large scale
\nhedge fund investors are accelerating their harmful takeovers in recent
\nyears,” the release states. “Data from 2021 show the fastest year
\nover year increase in hedge fund home purchases in 16 years. For example, in
\n2021, large hedge fund investors bought 42.8 percent of homes for sale in the
\nAtlanta metro area and 38.8 percent of homes in the Phoenix area.”<\/p>\n

To meet investor\u2019s
\nreturn expectations, hedge funds and other investors maximize profits by
\nimposing high rent increases, inflating fees, and delaying home maintenance and
\nimprovements, which diminishes the quality of housing over time, the Merkley
\nrelease reads.<\/p>\n

A 2018 study of
\nforeclosed homes in Atlanta found that hedge funds and investors were 68
\npercent more likely than small landlords to file for evictions, even after
\ncontrolling for property, tenant, and neighborhood characteristics.<\/p>\n

A recent [http:\/\/2<\/a>%29%09https\/financialservices.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/hhrg-117-ba09-20220628-sd002.pdf]House
\nFinancial Services Committee report found that predatory hedge fund investors
\ntargeted homes in neighborhoods with significantly larger Black populations and
\napproximately 30% more single mothers than the national average, with 12.9% of
\nhouseholds headed by single women with children under 18.<\/p>\n

In order to meet
\nAmericans\u2019 housing needs and root out systemic inequities in the housing
\nmarket, the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act bans hedge funds and
\nprivate equity investors from owning large numbers of homes by establishing a
\n$20,000 federal tax penalty for each single family home owned by a single
\ncompany and its affiliates over 100 homes.<\/p>\n

The bill allows companies
\nwith large portfolios to sell homes over several years to come into compliance
\nso there\u2019s an orderly exit, and includes incentives to make sure buyers of
\ndivested homes are ordinary people who will live in the home. The tax penalties
\ncollected will be used to provide down payment assistance to homebuyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support Senator
\nMerkley\u2019s proposal to address the impact of large investors in the housing
\nmarket. Often, these firms concentrate their purchases in communities of color,
\nlimiting first-time homebuyer opportunities to families that already face
\ndiscrimination in the marketplace. The transfer of the tax revenues to
\ndownpayment assistance programs further enhances the value of this bill,\u201d said
\nDoug Ryan Vice President, Policy & Applied Research, Prosperity Now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to
\nhelping curb the consolidation of single family homeownership by Wall Street
\nfirms, this legislation would go a long way in helping prospective first time
\nhomeowners by providing the means for down payment assistance. Additionally,
\nlimiting concentration in rental housing will likely result in lower rent
\nincreases for tenants, which is crucial in this time of great economic
\nuncertainty,\u201d said Chris Noble, Esq., Senior Policy Coordinator for the Private
\nEquity Stakeholder Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves a
\nsafe, stable, and affordable place to call home. Private equity firms, however,
\nhave instead devised a business model that prioritizes profits over people,
\nregardless of the economic consequences that fall on our communities. The presence
\nof private equity firms engaging in the housing market is one of the most
\nconcerning threats to financial stability among Oregonian families, especially
\nfor renters, prospective homebuyers, and Oregonians living on low or fixed
\nincomes. This bold piece of legislation will help change the tide of our
\nnational housing market and will protect families from predatory investment
\npractices that contribute to our ongoing housing and affordability crises here
\nin Oregon and in other communities across the country,\u201d said Loren Naldoza,
\nLegislative & Communications Manager with Neighborhood Partnerships.<\/p>\n

Merkley said he has
\nkept a steady drumbeat on the need for federal action to meet the Americans\u2019
\nhousing needs and to root out systemic inequities in the housing market.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

That work has
\nincluded?urging the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to work
\nwith the housing appraisal industry to address disparities in home valuations
\nfor communities of color;?and pushing Senate leaders to deliver critical housing
\nassistance to Oregonians struggling to find shelter in the wake of last year\u2019s
\ncatastrophic wildfires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the nation continues to face a crisis of housing affordability, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley has introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act. The legislation is aimed at ending Wall Street ownership of residential housing. While aspects of the housing crisis\u2014 including a supply shortage\u2014will take years to remedy, others can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAffordable Housing: New federal legislation designed to help Oregon, nation - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/affordable-housing-new-federal-legislation-designed-to-help-oregon-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Affordable Housing: New federal legislation designed to help Oregon, nation - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the nation continues to face a crisis of housing affordability, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley has introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act. 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