By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
President Joe Biden recently announced new efforts to reduce housing costs for Americans. The proposals include imposing rent caps on corporate landlords and building more affordable housing.
The move comes after the Biden-Harris administration revealed its Housing Supply Action Plan in May. It is designed to drive down housing expenses over time by increasing the supply of homes across the country.
“Families deserve housing that’s affordable—it’s part of the American Dream,” said Biden in a July 16 statement. “Rent is too high and buying a home is out of reach for too many working families and young Americans, after decades of failure to build enough homes. I’m determined to turn that around.”
According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 49 percent of renters were cost-burdened in 2021, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
If passed by Congress, Biden’s proposal would deny federal tax credits to landlords who increase rent by more than 5 percent each year. The policy would start this year and continue for the next two years. Landlords who control more than 50 units would be subject to the cap, ultimately reaching more than 20 million renters in the U.S.
“Rent’s too high and a home is out of reach for too many working and young Americans. After decades of failure to build enough homes, the president decided that it was time to take action to turn that around,” said Stephen K. Benjamin, senior adviser to the president and public engagement director at the White House. “We’ve seen this trend of corporate landlords, those on Wall Street primarily, buying hundreds and thousands of homes in one community and significantly increasing rents higher than normal inflation would dictate.”
High rents often have a disproportionate impact on Black and Brown families. In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that 58 percent of households led by Black adults are renters. This is compared to 27.9 percent for households led by White adults.
Benjamin highlighted that the president is also working to remove barriers to homeownership, a means of creating generational wealth for Black Americans. According to the adviser, nearly 250,000 Black adults have purchased a home with the help of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan since 2021.
He also said Biden’s foreclosure prevention measures have kept more than 160,000 African Americans in their homes.
“People just want a fair shot, an opportunity to do the great things that God has in store for them. They want a level playing field that realizes that oftentimes the system does not work for Black and Brown tenants across this country,” said Benjamin. “The civil rights challenge of the 21st century is, how do I build generational wealth? For many of us, it’ll be through housing.”
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