President Biden is taking significant steps to make renting more affordable for millions of Americans.
President Biden has announced several significant measures to address the high housing costs in the United States. Key aspects of this initiative include capping rent increases and boosting the construction of affordable housing.
His new actions to lower housing costs include:
Capping Rent Increases: Biden is urging Congress to pass legislation that gives corporate landlords a choice: cap rent increases on existing units at 5% or lose valuable federal tax breaks. This move targets large corporate landlords and aims to prevent excessive rent hikes, ensuring more stable and affordable rents for tenants (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House).
Repurposing Public Land: The administration plans to sustainably repurpose public land to build up to 15,000 additional affordable housing units in Nevada. This initiative involves assessing and utilizing surplus federal land for affordable housing projects, including in Las Vegas, to address housing shortages and provide more options for affordable living (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House).
Rehabilitating Distressed Housing: Efforts will also focus on rehabilitating distressed housing, building more affordable homes, and revitalizing neighborhoods. These measures aim to improve living conditions, increase the housing supply, and enhance community development (The White House).
Additionally, President Biden has called on Congress to pass the Biden-Harris Housing Plan, which aims to build 2 million homes and provide $10,000 in mortgage relief to help unlock homeownership for millions of Americans. The administration highlights that more housing units are currently under construction than at any time in over 50 years, with a 17% increase in new housing starts compared to the previous administration (The White House).
The administration is using various tools to lower housing costs, including:
- Limiting rent increases on rentals built with federal tax credits.
- Supporting local communities in building more housing.
- Addressing price-fixing by corporate landlords.
- Reducing energy costs by making housing more efficient and climate-resilient (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House).
Despite these efforts, Republicans in Congress have blocked several aspects of the President’s housing agenda. They have attempted to cut rental assistance and programs designed to build more homes and lower mortgage costs. Currently, Senate Republicans are blocking a bill that would help build 200,000 affordable homes, which previously passed the House with bipartisan support. The previous administration had secured a special tax subsidy for corporate landlords, a policy President Biden is working to counteract by cracking down on price gouging and increasing the housing supply to lower rents and support homeownership for working families (The White House).
President Biden is urging Congress to pass legislation that would present corporate landlords with a straightforward choice: either cap rent increases on existing units at no more than 5% annually or lose valuable federal tax breaks. This measure is designed to address the significant rent hikes faced by tenants, which have often been driven by corporate landlords taking advantage of housing shortages to increase profits (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House). The proposed legislation specifically targets large corporate landlords, aiming to provide more stability and affordability for renters across the country.
Under President Biden’s plan, corporate landlords with more than 50 units in their portfolio, covering over 20 million units nationwide, would need to cap annual rent increases at no more than 5% to benefit from faster depreciation write-offs available to rental housing owners. This policy will apply for the next two years, beginning this year, and includes exceptions for new construction and substantial renovation or rehabilitation. The goal is to provide a temporary solution to stabilize rents while the administration works to increase the supply of affordable housing (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House).
Additionally, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is introducing new protections for renters in multifamily properties financed by loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These protections include:
- A 30-day notice requirement before rent increases.
- A 30-day notice requirement on lease expirations.
- A 5-day grace period before imposing late fees on rental payments (The White House).
These measures are part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to balance the needs of tenants while encouraging the development of more affordable housing (Gold Rush Cam) (The White House).
President Biden is planning to repurpose public land to build more affordable housing as part of his broader strategy to address the housing crisis. This initiative aims to utilize underutilized federal land for the development of affordable housing units, thereby increasing the housing supply and making homes more accessible to working families.
Key components of this plan include:
Repurposing Federal Land: The administration will assess surplus federal land that can be repurposed for building affordable housing. This involves working with federal agencies that have land disposition authorities and providing financing tools for housing and necessary infrastructure (The White House) (The White House).
Projects in Nevada: Specific actions include the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) opening public lands in Nevada for affordable housing projects. For instance, BLM is facilitating the sale of 20 acres of public land to Clark County, Nevada, at below-market value, which is expected to enable the development of nearly 150 affordable homes for households earning less than 80% of the area median income. Additional sales and leases are planned to create thousands of affordable housing units in the Las Vegas Valley (The White House).
First-of-its-Kind Projects: The United States Forest Service (USFS) will lease land for workforce housing developments, marking the first such projects in the nation. These developments will be located in areas like Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Ketchum, Idaho (The White House).
This plan is part of a comprehensive effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to increase the availability of affordable housing and lower housing costs for Americans. By repurposing public land, the administration aims to quickly build more housing that is affordable and climate-resilient, which will help bring down energy costs and protect local lands and waters (The White House).
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