Read the full White House Press Release Here.
The White House announced Wednesday it is taking strategic steps to protect renters, including setting up limits on egregious rate hikes. Critics, however, have called out the Biden administration’s one-size-fits-all program that makes changes for renters at the expense of landlords.
“We’ve seen it for so many years, and it’s very frustrating,” American Apartment Owners Association director Alexandra Alvarado said during Grady Trimble’s report on “The Big Money Show” Wednesday.
“[Mom-and-pop landlords] are not being treated differently, even though it affects them much more than it would affect any large company with thousands of units. They have room for it. Landlords that have a few units don’t.”
In addition to limits on “egregious” rate hikes, the White House addressed several actions it plans to take in its commitment to renters. The actions include collecting information on how tenants are screened, updating guidelines on anti-competitive information sharing among landlords and providing legal help to tenants who are evicted.
Rent is one of several products and services to skyrocket in price following the COVID-19 pandemic and amid rampant inflation.
The Biden administration has taken steps to protect renters during the height of the pandemic, supporting an eviction moratorium and bragging that it has prevented millions of evictions.
Landlords, however, have also seen state-level attempts to protect renters at their expense.
New York City is considering the “Fair Chance for Housing Act”, which went before the New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Rights on December 8th. The bill is being backed by at least 30 of the council’s 51 members, The New York Post reported.
The act would strip landlords of the ability to perform criminal background checks on prospective tenants.
In addition to being supported by a significant number of lawmakers, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has suggested he is open to working with lawmakers on the proposal.
“No one should be denied housing because they were once engaged with the criminal justice system, plain and simple,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told Fox Business in a statement. “We will work closely with our partners in the City Council to ensure this bill has maximum intended impact.”
Critics argue the bill would put safety at risk in a city flooded with rising crime.
At the federal level, the Biden White House’s plan seeks to “increase fairness in the rental market and further principles of fair housing.”
The White House also revealed in its announcement Wednesday that it published the Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights. The blueprint is “is intended to support the development of policies and practices that promote fairness for Americans living in rental housing.”
The efforts of the Biden administration and cities like New York City have landlords concerned, particularly those who are smaller, mom-and-pop landlords. They note that rental prices work the same as supply and demand in the broader housing market.
“We have seen rent increase drastically over the past couple of years, but the landlords argue that’s supply and demand at work. They also say that’s one of the reasons prices are coming down in some of the largest cities in America,” Trimble concluded in his report.
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