Warren, Bowman, 30+ Lawmakers Urge Biden to Continue Bold Executive Action to Lower Housing Costs

October 17, 2024

Warren, Bowman, 30+ Lawmakers Urge Biden to Continue Bold Executive Action to Lower Housing Costs

"We strongly encourage you to cement your legacy by addressing one of the most pressing economic issues of our time."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) led a letter with over 30 lawmakers to President Joe Biden praising him for his actions to confront the housing crisis and proposing additional executive actions to lower the cost of housing.

"Under your leadership, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken important steps to protect renters from predatory corporate landlords and to make home purchases and refinancing more affordable," wrote the lawmakers. "But there is even more that can be done using executive agencies' existing statutory authority."

The lawmakers recommend the Administration and federal agencies take the following actions:

• Price Gouging Protections: In order to safeguard tenants from rising rents at the hands of corporate landlord who have been caught price gouging their tenants, FHFA can condition all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily loans on a set of price gouging protections, source of income protections, anti-eviction regulations, and habitability and accessibility improvements.
• Tackling Junk Fees: To address the hidden junk fees that can create thousands of dollars in additional costs for renters and homeowners, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should finalize its proposed rule to ban junk fees and continue to investigate unfair and deceptive practices by corporate landlords. Additionally, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should address anticompetitive closing costs and junk fees, lowering closing costs for home mortgages and making homeownership more accessible.
• Lowering Credit Report Costs: As the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) enjoys a near monopoly in the credit scoring market, the Department of Justice (DOJ) should investigate whether the company is violating antitrust law, and the CFPB should explore potential remedies to exploding credit reporting costs, including a cap on fees that credit reporting agencies can charge and interoperability requirements that would allow consumers to move their credit scores without new fees.
• Promoting Housing Development on Federal Property: Federal agencies can work to reform Title V of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance program, so that federal property can more easily be leased by affordable housing providers who are serving people experiencing homelessness.

Right now, the United States is facing a severe affordable housing crisis, with an estimated gap of 7.3 million housing units affordable and available to the lowest-income households.

Already, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken bold steps to protect tenants from predatory corporate landlords, including the Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights, rent-hike protections in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties, and support for anti-price-gouging measures in properties owned by corporate landlords. The Administration has also worked to increase housing supply, including through grants to incentivize the production of affordable housing and more.

"We strongly encourage you to cement your legacy by addressing one of the most pressing economic issues of our time and take swift action to create more housing and lower housing costs for Americans everywhere," concluded the lawmakers.

This letter was endorsed by the Tenant Union Federation, National Housing Law Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Homelessness Law Center, and Americans for Financial Reform.

Senator Warren has long led the fight to make housing more affordable for families and has held companies accountable for their role in exacerbating housing costs:

• In September 2024, Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and other lawmakers demanded answers from corporate landlords in Massachusetts allegedly using rent-hiking algorithms.
• In August 2024, Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), sent letters to each of the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) urging them to contribute at least 20% of their net income to affordable housing and other critical community grant programs.
• In July 2024, Senators Warren and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) reintroduced the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, the landmark legislation to tackle the housing crisis, bring down costs for renters and buyers, and help working families everywhere find a decent place to live at a decent price.
• In July 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Sara Jacobs led Senator Tim Kaine, Senator Jon Ossoff, Representative Ro Khanna, and Representative James Moylan in calling out the Department of Defense (DoD) for failing to protect military families living in military housing operated by private companies under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI).
• In June 2024, Senator Warren sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) urging the agency to address our country's affordable housing crisis by reforming the broken Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System.
• In May 2024, Senator Warren reintroduced the Public Housing Emergency Response Act to address the estimated $70 billion backlog of maintenance and repairs in our nation's public housing, which would allow tenants to live in safe conditions and ensure that, as we fight to end the housing crisis by expanding the supply of affordable housing, we are not losing existing units to disrepair.
• In April 2024, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, U.S. Senator Warren called out the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) for failing to deliver on their mission to provide affordable housing as the country faces a housing crisis.
• In January 2024, Senator Warren, John Hickenlooper, Jacky Rosen, and Sheldon Whitehouse sent a letter to Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell, calling on the Fed to reverse its troubling interest rate hikes that have driven mortgage rates to 20-year highs and have put affordable housing out of reach for too many Americans.
• In March 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Tina Smith, and Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ) calling for the DOJ to investigate YieldStar following new findings from their investigation of RealPage's YieldStar product.
• In January 2023, Senator Warren, and Representative Jamaal Bowman led a letter with 48 lawmakers, urging President Biden to use every tool he has to address rent inflation, end corporate price gouging in the rental market, and ensure that renters and people experiencing homelessness across this country are stably housed this winter.
• In November 2022, Senators Warren, Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to RealPage CEO Dana Jones, expressing concern about RealPage's algorithmic pricing software, YieldStar, and its role in driving rising rents and exacerbating inflation.
• In August 2022, at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (BHUA) Committee hearing, Senator Warren called out corporate landlords' growing role in the rental market and emphasized the need for a Tenant Protection Bureau to hold corporate landlords accountable and protect renters from extreme rent hikes, illegal eviction, and other predatory practices.
• In May 2022, Senators Warren and Reed sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Marcia Fudge, calling on HUD to preserve homeownership affordability for American families as Wall Street firms expand their activity in the housing market.
• In March 2022, at a BHUA Committee hearing, Senator Warren called out Wall Street's role in worsening the housing affordability crisis for seniors by buying up manufactured home communities
• In February 2022, Senator Warren called out private equity firms and other big investors for exacerbating inflation and locking families out of affordable housing opportunities.
• In January 2022, Senator Warren sent letters to the CEOs of three private equity-backed firms-Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent, and Invitation Homes -calling out their growing activity in the housing market that has resulted in rent hikes and unaffordable homes for first-time buyers.
• In August 2021, during a hearing exchange with Senator Warren, a Department of Housing and Urban Development nominee committed to consider changes that facilitate sales of distressed homes to homeowners, not private equity firms.
• In July 2021, Senator Warren called on large corporate landlords to avoid needless evictions as the CDC eviction moratorium neared expiration.
• In May 2021, at a hearing, Senator Warren made the case for her American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which would create a new housing innovation grant program to reduce exclusionary local zoning laws.
• On April 2021, Senator Warren and Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-Mo.) reintroduced the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act to bring down the costs for renters and buyers, level the playing field so working families can find a decent place to live at a decent price, reduce exclusionary zoning laws, and take a step towards addressing the effects of decades of housing discrimination on communities of color.
• In May 2019, Senator Warren and then-Representative Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) wrote to the private equity firms behind some of the country's largest manufactured housing communities to request information about their use of predatory practices to boost profits in the communities they own.

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