Kamala Harris Targets Apartment Rent Increases in First Policy Speech
Democratic presidential nominee pushes for congressional passage of bill aimed at curbing rent hikes through algorithms.
By Andrew Coen August 16, 2024 3:49 pm
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Vice President Kamala Harris’ first major policy address since becoming the Democratic nominee for president in July took aim at rent increases imposed by multifamily landlords.
As part of her economic plan outlined Friday in Raleigh, N.C., Harris pushed for Congress to pass legislation introduced early this year designed to prevent landlords from using algorithmic systems for raising rents on apartments.
The Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act of 2024, proposed in January by U.S. senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., took aim at property management software products such as those from RealPage and Yardi arguing they have enabled landlords to “coordinate prices to increase rental rates in the same market” following a series of lawsuits.
“Some corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices, often using algorithms in price-fixing software to do it,” Harris said Friday in her remarks. “I will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices.”
Harris also urged Capitol Hill lawmakers to approve the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which would restrict tax breaks for private equity firms or other large investors that purchase large chunks of single-family homes in local communities, often driving up prices. The legislation, which was introduced in the Senate by Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown last year, would if enacted “prohibit investors with 50 or more single-family rental homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties.”
Vice President Harris said Friday that in addition to investors, some landlords also “buy dozens, if not hundreds, of houses and apartments,” before renting them out “at extremely high prices.”
“It can make it impossible then for regular people to be able to buy or even rent a home,” Harris said.
Harris, too, pushed Friday for construction of 3 million new housing units during her first term in office if elected, an increase from 2 million new homes the Biden administration has previously called for. She proposed tax incentives for developers who build homes for first-time home homebuyers
The vice president’s remarks Friday zeroed in on affordability issues around housing as well as expanding the child tax credit. She also pressed for tackling at the federal level what she called corporate price gouging to bring down grocery expenses.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com
