Chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called for collaboration amongst the agencies testifying before the legislators, stating it would be the only way to combat the rising costs of housing that has plagued the U.S. in recent years.
Brown addressed acting Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Adrianne Todman and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson, as well as the rest of the committee when he said, “[T]he fact remains: housing prices are still far too high and have been for years. And it will take all of us working together – housing providers and federal, state, and local governments – to lower costs.
“HUD and FHFA need to do more to be vigilant in ensuring that taxpayer money is actually serving families – not enriching shady landlords and wealthy investors,” he added. “In Ohio and around the country, Wall Street firms and other outside investors swoop into communities, buy up properties, evict tenants, and drive up local housing prices. We should pass my ‘Stop Predatory Investing Act’ to end their tax breaks for buying up single-family homes. And we need to ensure that all our housing agencies are on the same page and working to stop – not support – predatory business models.”
The bill Brown referred to was introduced July 11, 2023, and was referred to the Committee on Finance. If passed, it would deny taxpayers owning 50 or more single family properties any tax deduction for interest paid or accrued in connection with any single family residential rental property. It also would disallow depreciation of residential rental property owned by such taxpayers.
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