Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the “Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act” (S.3561) in the U.S. Senate on January 9. The bill aims to hold corporate investors accountable for price gouging and limit investors’ ability to purchase housing stock. A companion bill of the same name (H.R.702) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV) in February 2023.
The bill would direct HUD to investigate price manipulation and price gouging by corporate investors and prevent renting or selling a unit at an unreasonable price during an affordable housing crisis. Funds collected through fines imposed on corporate investors would be directed to the national Housing Trust Fund, the nation’s only federal housing resource dedicated specifically to the construction, preservation, and operation of deeply affordable homes. NLIHC and the Nevada Housing Coalition – an NLIHC state partner – both endorse the bill.
“I applaud Senator Jacky Rosen for introducing critically needed legislation to strengthen and enforce federal renter protections,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a press release regarding the bill. “There is a tremendous power imbalance in our housing system, tilting heavily in favor of landlords at the expense of the lowest-income and most marginalized renters. The HOME Act would create robust, enforced protections against rent gouging during housing emergencies and other market manipulations. These are important steps to rebalance the market and prevent housing instability and homelessness. I urge Congress to act quickly in advancing and enacting the HOME Act.”
Read the press release for the bill here.
Learn more about the bill here.