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TARGETING CORPORATE LANDLORDS, BIDEN TO UNVEIL NATIONAL RENT CONTROL
PLAN  
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Jessica Corbett
July 16, 2024
Common Dreams [[link removed]]

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_ "The rent is too damn high—and rent control is a real fix," one
group said, praising the proposal. _

Tenants protest outside the National Multifamily Housing Council in
Washington, D.C. on June 27. , Twitter/People’s Action

 

As former U.S. President Donald Trump
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nomination and announced
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Monday, Democratic President Joe Biden prepared to unveil a proposal
that would cap annual rent increases at 5% for tenants of major
landlords.

After Biden briefly previewed
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the proposal during a press conference last week, _The Washington
Post_reported
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on the planned announcement Monday, citing three people familiar with
the matter. _The Associated Press_ separately confirmed
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the plan.

Biden is set to formally introduce the proposal on Tuesday in Nevada,
which "has seen among the biggest explosions of housing costs in the
country," the _Post_ noted. "Democrats have grown increasingly
concerned that Trump could win the state in November."

The president, who is seeking reelection, will propose taking a tax
benefit away from landlords who hike rents by more than 5% annually,
according to the reporting. The plan would only apply to the existing
housing stock of landlords who own more than 50 units and would
require congressional approval—so it is not expected to go anywhere
unless Biden wins in November and Democrats secure majorities in both
chambers of Congress.

As the newspaper detailed:

The Biden administration is also pushing numerous policies to increase
housing construction, through incentives to local governments to
change their zoning codes and new federal financial incentives for
builders.If implemented, they could bring 2 million new units to the
market in addition to the 1.6 million already in the pipeline.

"It would make little sense to make this move by itself. But you have
to look at it in the context of the moves they propose to make to
expand supply," said Jim Parrott, nonresident fellow at the Urban
Institute and co-owner of Parrott Ryan Advisors. "The question is:
Even if we get all these new units built, what do we do about rising
rents in the meantime? Coming up with a relatively targeted bridge to
help renters while new supply is coming online makes a fair amount of
sense."

While housing industry representatives criticized the reported
proposal, Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income
Housing Coalition, told _The Associated Press_ that having it in
effect in recent years could have helped renters.

The recent unprecedented increases in homelessness in communities
across the country are the result of those equally unprecedented—and
unjustified—rent hikes of a couple years ago," she said. "Had such
protections against rent gouging been in place then, many families
could have avoided homelessness and stayed stably housed."

Other rent control advocates and progressive officials also welcomed
the plan, with Kendra Brooks—the first Working Families Party member
ever elected to Philadelphia City Council—declaring
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exactly the kind of leadership that working families need!"

_Jacobin_'s Branko Marcetic said
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huge," particularly considering that "housing has rapidly climbed as a
cost-of-living concern (and is also under 30s' most important issue)."

Multiple campaigners and organizations credited housing advocates for
pushing rent control at the national level.

"It's amazing how rapidly the conversation around rent caps has
changed," noted
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executive director of the National Housing Law Project. "Tenant
organizing has created this change. It's a proposal for Congress which
will face serious headwinds but the president just called for rent
caps (even if only temporarily)."

The Debt Collective said
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over and over again: The rent is too damn high—and rent control is a
real fix."

"Rent caps wouldn't be a national policy proposal without tenants
unions across the country making it possible through organizing," the
group added. "On our way to land without landlords, remember that rent
control works. The 99%'s need for a roof over our head should not be
1% profits."

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Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

* Biden; Rent Control; Presidential Campaign;
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