Senators Josh Hawley and Jeff Merkley introduced the Homes for American Families Act to prohibit Wall Street firms from purchasing single-family homes across the United States, following President Trump's State of the Union call to codify his executive order, Breitbart reports.
The Republican from Missouri and Democrat from Oregon announced the legislation Thursday, which would ban large institutional investors from buying single family homes, townhouses and condominiums.
"Wall Street has exploited the American housing crisis, turning the nation's housing stock into a portfolio of rental properties," Hawley stated. "Families deserve to be able to buy their own homes and achieve the American dream without competing with big investment companies that irrevocably drive up housing prices. That's why I am introducing legislation to ban Wall Street from buying single family homes once and for all."
The senators also updated their companion legislation known as the HOPE for Homeownership Act, which would incentivize Wall Street firms and hedge funds to divest their holdings of single family homes.
"Houses in our communities should be homes for families, not profit centers for hedge funds," Merkley stated. "As corporate investors invade the housing market nationwide, we need action to protect hardworking Americans achieving the dream of homeownership. Now with bipartisan support, we have wind in our sails to finally crack down on billionaire corporations gobbling up American homes. I'm ready to work with the President, Republicans, and Democrats to get this over the finish line."
During his State of the Union address, Trump pleaded with Congress to make his executive order banning large institutional investors from buying single family homes into permanent federal law.
"Another pillar of the American dream that has been under attack has been home ownership," Trump stated during the address. "With us tonight is Rachel Wiggins, a mom of two from Houston. She placed bids on 20 homes and lost all of those bids to gigantic investment firms that bypassed inspection, paid all cash and turned all those houses into rentals, stealing away her American dream. She was devastated."
Trump continued describing his executive action. "Stories like this are why last month I signed executive order to ban large Wall Street investment firms are buying up in the thousands single family homes. And now I'm asking Congress to make that ban permanent, because homes for people, really that's what we want, we want homes for people, not for corporations. Corporations are doing just fine. Rachel, thank you very much. Good luck with your home. You'll get one soon."
The housing proposal represented one of the few moments during the address that saw Republicans alongside left wing Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, stand and cheer together in a rare bipartisan agreement. In this time of great polarization, such bipartisan projects should be actively encouraged. It’s the best way to break the current polarization cycle and offer real solutions to our problems.
