Biden Tackles Problem of Corporate Landlord Profiteering Directly
But scale of housing crisis demands more federal action

By Caroline Nagy, Senior Policy Counsel for Housing, Corporate Power, and Climate Justice

Today, President Biden acknowledged what too many Americans already know: the rent is simply too damn high and the public cannot continue to subsidize corporate landlords’ unlimited appetite for rent hikes through our tax code.

By proposing to repeal tax breaks, like the depreciation write-off for corporate landlords who stick their tenants with rent increases above 5 percent, Biden is taking a vital step toward direct action to curb the corporate profiteering that contributes to the housing crisis.

This move also puts the Biden administration in touch with the U.S. public: a recent poll found that 70 percent of swing state voters said they would be more likely to vote for candidates that support limits on rent increases, including 60 percent of Republican voters.

In the first quarter of 2024, the six largest publicly-traded apartment companies saw their combined net incomes climb by nearly $300 million, while homelessness and housing unaffordability have risen to record levels. Today, half of all tenants spend over 30 percent of their income on rent, with 27 percent spending over 70 percent of their income on housing costs alone. When corporate landlords move into a community, they have raised rents, loaded on junk fees, skimped on maintenance, and increased evictions.

But there is more to be done to address the problem of rent affordability in the United States. The nation must dramatically increase affordable housing construction and require suburbs to contribute their fair share of new housing construction through the release of a strong Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. The federal government must expand rental assistance to every person who qualifies for it.

Immediate actions by regulators can also hit price-gouging corporate landlords where it hurts: their financing. The Federal Housing Financial Agency (FHFA) has already announced that it will require 30-day written notices of rent increases or lease expiration, along with a 5-day grace period for rent payments, as a condition for receiving its multifamily financing.

This very positive move demonstrates that the U.S. government has a role to play in protecting hard-working tenants and the U.S. taxpayers. To fully disrupt the extractive business model of Wall Street landlords, the FHFA must use its existing authority to step in and refuse to provide financing to landlords who raise their rents unreasonably.

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