A coalition of 76 members of the House of Representatives have called on their leadership to drop a providing from the Senate-passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that would force corporate entities to sell their single-family build-to-rent (BTR) housing properties seven years after construction.
The representatives, who belong to the Real Estate Caucus and the Build America Caucus, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to remove Section 901 of the Senate bill, claiming it “would have far reaching and unintended consequences that run counter to the bill’s stated goal of expanding housing opportunity.”
The representatives cited a forecast from the Urban Institute warning the provision could “decrease the number of rental units built each year by at least 72,000.” They also argued the provision would “push out renters and destabilize housing for thousands of families nationwide. The bill’s requirements, including mandatory divestment timelines, would compel housing providers to sell properties, resulting in the forced displacement of renters who rely on these homes.”
Furthermore, the representatives argued the bill “would disproportionately harm middle-class and military families who rely on flexible, high-quality rental housing options.” They added the bill’s mandates could also “unintentionally restrict capital formation and investment in rental housing markets more broadly.”
“BTR communities provide access to neighborhoods with strong schools, employment opportunities, and community infrastructure, often in areas where traditional rental housing is limited,” the representatives wrote. “These communities are especially important for families who are not yet ready or able to purchase a home, including relocating workers and military families transitioning between duty stations. Restricting access to these housing options would reduce mobility, limit economic opportunity, and place additional strain on working families striving to achieve homeownership.”
It figures. The builders are in their pockets. These mega corporations should not
build to rent and remove inventory from the buyer looking to buy a reasonable
property. I am totally against dropping that provision.
Based on information to date, I agree with Elaine.
Is it the “Build America Caucus” or the Own America Caucus?
How does it help renters or buyers if the housing is never built? If it is built, would you rent the house knowing you had to move out so it can be sold to someone else?
I thought the main contention against these megalith corporations was that they were buying up all the existing single family homes and making rentals out of them, not that they were building new rental complexes. Those are two completely different animals. They should NOT be able to buy up single family homes that not only drive prices up because they 1. Pay more than market value for them and 2. Create shortages of available homes for new home buyers.
This is the practice that needs stopped, along with NO foreign ownership of land/structures in the United States.
More proof that hedge funds are lining the pockets of members of Congress!
Provision needs to stand. Corporations are limiting the supply for buyers. They are limiting one of the ways Americans can build a nest for the future which is equity in Real Estate. They are crating a society of renters because those renters cannot find their dream home. This is a new concept of Redlining – a subtle way of keeping families of renters under their control.
This is totally unfair to property owners that pay property taxes. These BTR subdivions have tax abatements forever. Yet property owners are losing their homes because of the high taxes and insurance. There should be NO TAX ABATEMENTS. Yes the investor needs to sell them within 5 years. Put the tenant on the path of home ownership.
(4/28/26) There are currently 15 million vacant housing units in the US that are being non-utilized or underutilized.
So, the housing problem has nothing to do with lack of supply, it has everything to do with inefficient underutilization of current supply.
Housing un-affordability has been a result of the .gov and Fed’s involvement in artificially increasing money supply while at the same time suppressing rising mortgage rates via the Fed’s purchasing of nearly $3 Trillion dollars worth of MBS into 2022. The Fed stopped buying MBS back in 2022 and as a result, mortgage rates rose 250 basis points and median US home prices have already fallen 8% between 2022-2026.
So as long as the Fed stays out of the mortgage interest rate suppression game, US housing prices will continue to fall. And once builders/developers/investors start to realize that the Fed is no longer going to keep artificially suppressing interest rates and inflating home prices, then the housing-affordability problem will solve itself. Because NO investor/builder/developer is going to be willing to buy/hold vacant housing during a recession and an existing housing glut of 11 to 15 million already- existing vacant units.
Then as the artificial stimulus is withheld from the financial system, the economy will naturally contract, credit will temporarily tighten, demand will then temporarily contract at exactly the same time investors/builders/developers begin to quickly sell their 15 million unit shadow supply of vacant & under-utilized real estate.
Then once the vacancy ratio falls from current 10% to 2%, home prices will fall back to affordable levels at exactly the time the economy bottoms and begins to rebound.
No need for legislation. As long as the .gov and Fed continues to stop subsidizing the hyper-inflation of the housing industry, the problem of affordability will all work itself out.
If we have done anything in this country, it is populate, divide, build, cannibalize natural resources and pollute our environment.
Beneficiaries of this bill are now hoping to secure their futures by assembling, owning and controlling land at the lowest possible cost by using other people’s money.
Structures deteriorate, natural resources disappear , but the land,
(short of earthquakes, volcanos, contamination and condemnation) endures.
They really don’t care if the land is leased for residential development, solar production, wind generation, medical marijuana, by Walmart or for watermelons.
It will be used in whatever manor generates the maximum income/profit for the owners.
We have a fourth great-grandfather who pioneered in Texas.
These guys are modern day Land Barons… and they have no intention of selling
in 5 or 500 years.
(4/29/26) Oh yes they will sell; just like they did after 1929, 1973, and 2008. Because 2026 has the same thing in common with those years of history;
1. Peak hyper-leveraged credit bubble
2. Parabolic, Quickly-rising energy costs
3. Parabolic, Quickly-rising inflation
4. An absent Fed (with no tools to solve
the above 3
Fraud & Ponzi-like structure buried deep within private credit market is the “black swan” that will be blamed for the soon-to-be-coming “Everything Crash”. But parabolic moves higher in the oil market will be the shock event to the world financial system that will pop the currently hyper-leveraged credit market bubble. And as manipulated oil prices remain much higher-for-longer, the black swan contagion will be released into the world-wide credit market.
And NOBODY is going to want to be buying or holding investment real estate until the real estate mega-bubble has fully hyper-deleveraged, crashed, and found a floor; probably around 2007 levels.
And THAT 2007 price level will be where the smart-money land barons swoop in and buy everything for pennies on the dollar.
what high raising Inflation, Oil was over $100 for 3.5 years under Obama and months with Biden. But only days with Trump. 4/30/2026