OscarNet

Monday, June 1, 2026

Inside The Major Bill Poised To Reshape The US Housing Market

The United States may be on track to implement the first comprehensive housing legislation in decades.

For the past several years, housing affordability has been a significant subject across the country, with many young people struggling to achieve the dream of homeownership.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have tried to reverse the trend by advancing the 21st Century Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025.

Here is a look inside the sweeping housing package and the path to passage.

Inside the Act

Although the current administration has examined strategies to expand access to the housing market, the bipartisan legislative initiative aims to bolster supply for middle-class families.

The bill’s main provision is a limit on institutional investors’ purchases of single-family homes.

Both chambers tweaked the proposal.

The Senate approved language that requires major investors who build single‑family rental homes to sell those properties within seven years.

The House’s version still aims to rein in Wall Street’s footprint in the single‑family market, but its latest draft eases the restrictions.

Lawmakers added wider exemptions for institutional buyers of newly constructed rentals, homes needing substantial renovation, and several other categories.

Other measures aim to facilitate more construction, including incentives to build more homes, convert abandoned buildings into housing, and modernize existing homes.

In addition, Washington bolstered eligible income limits for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a federal block grant program that state and local governments use to build, maintain, and support affordable housing for low‑income households.

Officials created a Housing Supply Framework to enable best practices in state and local zoning and land use.

The legislative text also expands banks’ authority to make public welfare investments supporting affordable housing. The bill raises the cap for banks’ public welfare investments to 20 percent from 15 percent.

Lawmakers removed the permanent chassis requirement for manufactured homes. The long-standing federal rule required that manufactured homes be constructed on a permanent steel frame to qualify under the federal construction code.

It also includes the Modular Housing Production Act and other reforms to streamline the production of factory-built housing.

There was also some focus on the demand side of the equation. For example, the bill establishes incentives for mortgage lenders to originate small-dollar mortgages—typically less than $100,000—to address the financing gap for low-cost homes. Additionally, Congress updated rules on appraisal standards and fees for these small-dollar loans.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes reforms to Veterans Affairs housing policies. The major changes include expanding access to Veterans Affairs home loans, improving consumer protections for borrowers, and enhancing housing support for disabled and homeless veterans.

Congressional Path

Unlike other pieces of legislation, the housing affordability bill has moved quickly through Congress—something that President Donald Trump had requested.

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced legislation in December 2025. Two months later, it passed 390–9 in the lower chamber.

As it arrived in the upper chamber, senators made substitutions rather than take up the House bill. The amended legislation passed 89–10 and was sent back to the House, where it passed 396–13.

It will now be delivered to the Senate for final approval.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the bipartisan housing bill will provide relief for families nationwide.

“We worked closely with the White House and our colleagues in both chambers on a bill that puts families first and addresses the housing crisis,” they said in a May 20 joint statement.

“There’s still work to be done and we are committed to continuing to work with the White House and our colleagues in the House on a housing bill that can pass the Senate and get to the president’s desk.”

What the Industry Says

The housing industry widely lauded Congress for moving ahead with the legislation.

Shortly after the House passed the bill, the National Association of Home Builders noted that it addresses several problems facing Americans today, mainly housing shortages and affordability challenges.

“The bottom line is that the housing crisis is a supply problem,” Bill Owens, the group’s chairman, said in a statement.

“Congress can help by improving access to capital, strengthening workforce pipelines, expanding the availability of buildable lots and reducing excessive regulatory costs and permitting delays.

“If we want to make housing more attainable, we must make it easier and less expensive to build.”

Emily Cadik, CEO of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, stated that increasing the banks’ public welfare investment cap to 20 percent will “unlock billions of dollars in new private investment.”

“Additional changes in the updated House legislation will further strengthen our ability to finance more affordable housing to address our nation’s immense need,” Cadik said in a statement.

The House passing the Senate’s amended version would both enhance housing supply and expand access to affordable mortgage credit, said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“[The legislation] will help advance meaningful housing affordability solutions for our nation’s homeowners and renters,” he said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/inside-major-bill-poised-reshape-us-housing-market

Sunday, May 31, 2026

Berkshire Hathaway to acquire Taylor Morrison for $72.50 per share in cash

Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (TMHC) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) Inc. (BRK.A) jointly announced that they have reached a definitive agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire Taylor Morrison for $72.50 per common share in cash, representing a total equity value for Taylor Morrison of approximately $6.8B and total enterprise value of approximately $8.5B. The acquisition price represents a 24% premium to Taylor Morrison’s latest closing price of $58.50 on May 29, 2026. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Taylor Morrison stockholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Taylor Morrison Home Corporation will become a private company and its common stock will no longer be listed and traded on the NYSE. “Berkshire is acquiring a best-in-class national homebuilder, led by an exceptional team and backed by a trusted reputation for customer experience,” said Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited to welcome Taylor Morrison into Berkshire’s portfolio, reflecting our long-standing commitment to housing, exemplified by Clayton Homes and our other building products businesses. Over time, we expect to unify our site-built homebuilding operations into a combined platform enabling us to deliver the dream of homeownership to more Americans.”

https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/berkshire-hathaway-to-acquire-taylor-morrison-for-72-50-per-share-in-cash-thefly-news

Friday, May 29, 2026

Florida “Save Our Homes” Property Tax Elimination Proposal

Governor Ron DeSantis announced he is calling for a special session of the Florida Legislature during the week of June 1 to consider a constitutional amendment aimed at delivering broad property tax relief for Florida homeowners. The proposal, titled “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes,” provides for the immediate increase in the homestead exemption and calls for a schedule for full elimination through general law.

“Today in Tampa, I outlined the Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes plan that will eliminate taxes on homesteads,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years and is expected to reach an astounding $83 billion by 2032. Florida homeowners need relief. Now is the time to stand up for taxpayers, enact a historic reform, and save the home of every Floridian.”

Property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years (from $32 billion to $60 billion) and is expected to reach an astounding $83 billion by 2032.

As proposed by Governor DeSantis, the Save Our Homes proposal includes five major components to provide immediate and permanent relief:

Exempt Homestead Properties From Taxation.
Exempts the first $250,000 of a homestead’s value from taxation and requiring, through law, a schedule for full elimination.
Ensure Funding For Core Services.
Requires local governments to use remaining property taxes solely for core public needs including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, and natural resources.
Protect Small Businesses.
Limits future property tax assessments on businesses and creates a more stable tax environment for local businesses.
Ensure Fairness For Florida Residents.
Requires any person who establishes Florida residency after January 1, 2027, to maintain Florida residency for up to five years prior to receiving the increased homestead exemption.
Create A State Trust Fund To Assist With Core Local Services.
Establishes a trust fund to provide grants to local governments to assist with the continuation of core local services.

The Governor’s proposal will be considered during the upcoming special session, with the goal of placing the constitutional amendment on the ballot for Florida voters this fall.

You can view the proclamation outlining the special session call here.

https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2026/governor-ron-desantis-announces-special-session-property-tax-relief-unveils-save

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Mamdani plan to ‘transfer’ building ownership to tenants uses existing NYC programs that repeatedly failed

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly unveiled push to strip properties from bad landlords and bestow them onto “responsible” owners has been happening for years in New York City — and has repeatedly proven to be a failure, The Post has learned.

The socialist mayor, as he announced his sprawling housing plan Wednesday, vowed to use city resources to help “remove negligent owners” and transfer buildings that have “suffered chronic neglect” into the hands of “responsible stewards.”

But the administration’s initiative, dubbed “Fix the City,” aims to make use of already existing bureaucratic and agency programs that date back to at least the 1970s — and have repeatedly needed the government to swoop in with bailouts, a Post review found.

“The city has long tried to help tenants become owners of buildings, but tenants aren’t necessarily equipped to run the building,” one former insider at the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development said.

“You need someone to be a good bookkeeper and to collect rent from the neighbors,” the source said, adding, “It’s really hard to do and hard to do well.”

Mamdani’s main mechanism, which he touted to hold landlords accountable, would be for the city to drag alleged bad actors to court in an attempt to implement a little-known program, named 7A, in which a housing court judge would appoint a non-profit to take over the management of a building.

Another pillar of the mayor’s plan calls for City Hall to ramp up the number of buildings that are collectively owned and operated by the people who live there — framing it as a revolutionary path to increasing homeownership in a city where roughly 70% of residents are renters.

Under the Housing Development Fund Corporation program, the cooperatives are run by the “shareholders” and subject to strict regulations, such as limits on income for residents and subletting and resale rates.

There are roughly 1,100 such affordable co-ops currently across the Big Apple — though an investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James announced last year found that nearly all of them were considered “high risk” and needed help.

The AG’s office, along with then-Mayor Eric Adams, rolled out a $750,000 bailout for the buildings, which were found to have fallen behind on rental collection, stopped making tax payments, run up high levels of debt or racked up a staggering number of code violations.

The buildings, which are granted a slew of tax breaks and financial help from the city, are overseen by the HPD agency, but each has a board of directors that is “legally” required to act in the co-op’s best interest.

Mamdani also pushed for the passing of the controversial Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), giving non-profits the first shot at buying distressed buildings. The legislation was approved by the City Council last year but vetoed by Adams.

Housing non-profits, however, are already at a “breaking point,” according to a recent alarming report that called for a massive government bailout of the industry.

The February report from the Association of Neighborhood Housing and Development found that 290,000 of the city’s already-existing subsidized, non-profit-run buildings were financially underwater.

“Rising cost, stagnant revenues and unpredictable federal support have created conditions where even mission-driven nonprofits — those that rebuilt neighborhoods when the private market walked away — can no longer sustain their portfolios without intervention,” the report warned, calling for a bailout and reforms.

City Hall described the buildings that would be subject to the effort as “chronically negligent,” but couldn’t define that term when pressed by The Post.

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, panned the mayor as merely disguising a push for government subsidy hikes as a housing plan — with “flailing solutions that don’t meet the moment.”

“We can’t afford it today and we won’t be able to afford that tomorrow,” he said.

“Nonprofits and affordable co-ops are screaming from their crumbling rooftops that the rents don’t cover costs,” Burgos said. “The city should crack down on bad actors but changing ownership simply moves the financial burden to taxpayers, permanently.”

Humberto Lopes, a 61-year-old building owner who recently formed the Gotham Housing Alliance to represent the interests of small and large building owners, railed that the mayor should focus on the city’s beleaguered public housing system instead.

“Why don’t you start with them first,” he said of NYCHA, railing, “When did this become a communist country where a dictator could come in and take my building and give it to the f–ing peasant?”

The AG’s office did not say how the funds announced in September 2025 for the cooperatives were doled out, referring The Post to HPD, which did not respond to questions.

Mamdani also announced he plans to use a public-private trust for NYCHA – which he opposed as a state lawmaker – to help fix existing public housing buildings.

“When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers,” he crowed at Wednesday’s news conference.

“And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Stewards that include community land trusts, nonprofits or even the tenants themselves,” he said — to roaring cheers from pro-tenant advocates in attendance.

https://nypost.com/2026/05/27/us-news/mamdanis-plan-to-transfer-building-ownership-to-tenants-uses-existing-failed-nyc-programs/

Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Homeowners Face Eminent Domain Bulldozers As Data Centers Demand Ever More Power

Georgia Power isn’t negotiating anymore. The Southern Company subsidiary is seizing dozens of homes and hundreds of easements across Coweta and Fayette counties to ram through a 35-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line that will feed at least four massive AI data centers. Project Wansley is just the latest flashpoint in a backlash that has been building for months.

At least 20 to 30 homes face outright demolition. Another 300-plus properties will get permanent easements for towers planted in backyards and next to pools.

But residents like Ansley Brown are fighting back. Her mother bought their family home in 2003 through a USDA rural development loan for single mothers. Now the utility wants the property for the corridor. Brown’s viral TikTok exposing the lowball offers (she says $70,000 to $100,000 below market) has racked up millions of views and drawn state lawmakers into the fight.

Georgia Power says the line is essential.

The company is racing to add roughly 10 gigawatts of new generating capacity over the next five years, with executives openly stating that about 80% of that power will go to data centers. Meanwhile, transmission has become the bottleneck, and utilities are turning to eminent domain to clear the path.

This isn’t happening in isolation. We’ve been pounding the table on data center resistance, from Northern Virginia counties rejecting new substations to Texas communities suing over water drawdowns and power rate spikes. The pattern is the same: hyperscale demand collides with local infrastructure limits, and the costs get socialized while the profits stay private.

Electricity prices are already feeling the pressure. Utilities across the Southeast and Midwest have warned of double-digit residential rate hikes tied directly to data center load growth. Georgia Power’s own filings show residential customers absorbing a growing share of the bill for transmission and generation built primarily for big tech.

The same dynamic is playing out with Meta’s Georgia facilities, where local reporting has highlighted water quality complaints, including muddy runoff affecting nearby residents, alongside the power demands.

We’ve seen this movie before with pipelines and wind farms. The difference now is the sheer scale of the load and the speed at which it’s arriving. Data centers don’t just want power; they want it yesterday, and they’re willing to let utilities use the state’s hammer to get it. The pushback in Georgia is a warning shot as more communities draw the same line.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/homeowners-face-eminent-domain-bulldozers-ai-data-centers-demand-new-power