Housing

Watered-down White House tenant protection measures are a victory for big real estate and private equity lobbyists.

The White House should not succumb to the real estate industry’s cynical lobbying efforts to block new federal tenant protections. These same developers and corporate landlords fueled the rental housing crisis in the first place by spiking rents and exploiting families, and now they are looking to defend their ill-gotten gains.

Big banks publicly tout a “great leader’s legacy” while quietly fighting against what he stood for.

While the Democratic Party celebrates holding on to the Senate, the 2022 midterms also tested the growing momentum around tenant’s protections with incredible success. In a survey of more than 12,200 Americans who voted in the 2022 election, polling revealed that across all racial and ethnic groups, inflation and the rising cost of living was the most important issue for the President and Congress to address. A key driver of inflation, per economic analysis by People’s Action and the Groundwork Collaborative, is sky-high rents – accounting for one third of the Consumer Price Index.

Low income communities of color made countless sacrifices to keep the United States’s economy going during the pandemic, all while supporting their families and enduring sky-high rents.

Housing experts have drafted an executive order to protect tenants and stop rent-gouging. All Biden has to do is sign it.

The news media keeps citing industry PR flacks, not tenants, as experts on the housing crisis.

The grassroots Homes Guarantee campaign has an executive branch playbook to protect tenants, but will the Biden administration acquiesce?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is lacking vital staff during a crisis of housing affordability.

Two top Biden housing nominees have been confirmed after months of delays, but five more HUD vacancies still remain unfilled.

Even without Congress, advocates say there’s a lot that HUD can do to protect tenants and promote affordable housing.

If confirmed to lead the FHFA, Thompson would have enormous power to tackle the affordable housing crisis and address racial equity in housing.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) following the 2008-2010 subprime mortgage crisis. Upon its creation, the FHFA replaced the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the GSE mission office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The FHFA is responsible for ensuring regulated entities “fulfill their mission by operating in a safe and sound manner to serve as a reliable source of liquidity and funding for the housing finance market throughout the economic cycle.” The agency oversees the supervision, regulation, and housing mission oversight of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which includes the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) and the Office of Finance. 

As the pandemic exacerbates the nation’s ongoing housing crisis, President Biden has promised swift and immediate action. Effectively deploying the federal government’s powers to address this crisis, however, will require more than just good policy and motivated leadership. Past administrations eroded the federal government’s capacity to carry out effective policy to help tenants and homeowners. This administration will need to form new infrastructure, with an outsized focus on staffing reforms, in order to both restore capacity and implement new housing policies that will enable Americans to readily access safe and affordable housing. 

Through its oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA is closely involved in regulating financing for multifamily housing across the country.