July 16, 2024 at 2:00 AM PDT
Bloomberg Online
President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to pass a form of national rent control for some 20 million apartment units nationwide, a dramatic federal intervention in the housing market on behalf of current tenants.
The proposal would give large landlords a choice: Either they agree to cap rent hikes at no more than 5% per year, or they forfeit federal tax breaks coveted by rental property owners.
The plan is an effort to respond to Americans' frustrations about high housing costs, which have hurt Biden's standing among voters. Yet the proposal faces steep odds in Congress, where legislation would have to pass the GOP-controlled House and win a supermajority of votes in a closely divided Senate — at a time when lawmakers are squarely focused on the November election.
Biden’s new rent-control proposal, which was first reported by the Washington Post, drew an immediate response from industry organizations that represent builders, owners and lenders. Sharon Wilson Géno, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council, said in an interview that the Biden administration was casting for votes with rent control, describing the proposal as a “farce.”
“This whole idea that they’re going to cap rents for two years, just for existing property, but it’s not going to apply to any future property because somehow they don’t want to impede future development is nonsensical,” Géno said. “It’s absolutely going to impede future development because they’re seeing what’s happening to existing property.”
