A Trump about-face on the bipartisan housing bill, a lack of natural gas services in a Brooklyn housing project, and an unlikely real estate advisor for Perez Hilton. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of June 22-26.
Miss: Reversing Course. President Trump was ready to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act at a Capitol Hill ceremony on Wednesday, until he decided at the last second that he would withhold his official approval of the bipartisan-supported legislation until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, a voter identification bill that stalled due to lack of support from Democratic senators. Trump also changed his tune on the housing bill, which he previously trumpeted as a major legislative goal before redefining it as the “Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance.” Whether the housing bill can achieve its lofty goals of expanding affordable homeownership opportunities remains to be seen, but the president’s Jekyll and Hyde behavior flabbergasted his Republican allies on Capitol Hill and the bill’s supporters across the real estate industry.
Hit: Skin in the Game (and on the Head). Scott Schwab, a Republican running for governor of Kansas, has a property tax plan that he promotes using the acronym BALD – which stands for Better, Affordable Living by Decreasing Property Taxes. Okay, while Schwab gets a demerit for a mucked-up acronym, he deserves a Hit for a self-effacing advertising campaign that links his BALD plan to his bald head. Sunflower State Journal previewed this amusing outreach, with Schwab having fun while simultaneously addressing a serious issue:
Miss: Absence of Natural Gas. While New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was crowing over the victories of his fellow socialist politicians in Tuesday’s primary election, the residents of Whitman Houses, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) project in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, were dealing with socialist-style incompetence in the delivery of basic services – specifically, natural gas service outages that have been occurring since last August. A trio of elected officials – New York Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson – issued a joint statement expressing outrage over the outages, declaring, “Our neighbors in Whitman Houses deserve to live in dignity with basic necessities like working stoves and ovens. NYCHA must take immediate action to restore gas service for all Whitman Houses residents.” While their intentions are good, their action gets a Miss because this problem has been going on for nearly a year and they only just got around to condemning it. And, for that matter, Mamdani gets an even bigger Miss for wasting everyone’s time advocating for Hamas when he should be helping Brooklyn.
Hit: A Secular Technicality. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court invalidated an effort to add a rent control question to the state’s November ballot. CBS News reports the proposed ballot question would have capped annual rent increases at 5% per year, with a few exceptions for nonprofit and religious housing. However, the state constitution prohibits referendums relating to religion. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell admitted the state “got it wrong” by certifying the ballot question. That goof pleased real estate groups opposed to rent caps – including the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and NAIOP Massachusetts, who warned in a joint statement last fall that this measure “creates the most restrictive rent control program in the entire United States and forces it on every city and town across the Commonwealth.” Obviously, their prayers were answered in getting this ballot question jettisoned.
Hit: A Sign from Above. Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton inserted himself into the real estate news headlines this week when he told Realtor.com about his plans to sell his Las Vegas mansion and relocate to Miami, which is his hometown. Hilton shared the unexpected advice he received for leaving Las Vegas, declaring, “I need to move to Miami for many reasons. First, this is Heaven-sent. God told me to move to Miami … The holy spirit made these words come out of my mouth: ‘Let’s move to Miami.’” Perez noted that he’s recovered from multiple health issues recently, adding, “Even though it was really painful being in the hospital and so sick, I reconnected with my faith, and this move to Miami feels divine. I was just listening to God. I used to not have a great relationship with Miami when I was younger, but now things are different and Miami is different, and I’m excited to get to rediscover it as an adult.” Hey, Perez, here’s wishing you good health and good luck on this new chapter in your always-colorful adventures!
Hit: Keir Today, Gone Tomorrow. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that he will be resigning brought sighs of relief from his critics and groans of disappointment from his supporters. It also brought out the mischievous side of the Royal Mail’s social media marketing team, which used Starmer’s upcoming exit from the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street in London for a cheeky advertisement reminding people to forward their mail before they move:
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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