Our Housing System is Profoundly Broken–Here is a Plan to Fix it

Our Housing System is Profoundly Broken–Here is a Plan to Fix it

 

Many young people no longer believe in the American Dream, and for good reason. My fiancée and I both work full-time jobs–she is a public school teacher, and I’m an eldercare worker–yet, our hope of buying a home in Rhode Island seems impossibly out of reach. The median house price in our state is over half a million dollars. The rental market is even worse: the Providence metro area is one of the least affordable markets in the whole country. We are in the midst of a major housing crisis. 

 

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As a U.S. Senate candidate, I’ve been all around the state talking to working-class Rhode Islanders about their issue priorities. The single issue that comes up the most is housing. Voters are absolutely despondent about our local, state, and national housing policies. 

 

The problems in our housing market are manifold, so we need bold, comprehensive reform to fix this broken system. 

 

Large corporate landlords like Greystar, Morgan Properties, and Blackstone own hundreds of thousands of apartments and homes throughout the country. Investors own roughly 1 out of every 5 homes in America. By hoarding these units, corporate landlords are artificially driving up prices and making it harder for ordinary Americans to afford a place to live. Local zoning ordinances restrict the new-housing supply, keeping prices up. The federal government has tied its own hands as an owner and developer of quality, affordable units. Financialization of housing as a tradable commodity has increased market risk and driven up costs. And Trump’s Tariffs have increased the costs of home-building materials, reducing supply and increasing costs. 

 

As one of the core policies of my campaign for U.S. Senate, I’m proposing the Corporate Landlord Restriction Act (“CLRA”), which would progressively tax landlords for each unit they own over 15 units. The bill would then prohibit landlords who own more than 1,000 units nationally from owning more than 0.10% of any city’s rental market. In Providence, this would mean that no out-of-state corporate landlord could own more than 75 units. By restricting the corporate ownership of housing, CLRA will drive down prices, introduce more competition, and improve conditions.

 

Additionally, the Act would prohibit the financialization of housing. No longer could banks securitize, bundle, tranche, and sell portfolios of housing units. No more housing-based derivatives. And no more mortgage-backed securities, which were perfidiously traded and led to the implosion of the housing market in 2008. 

 

The CLRA would also provide states with funds to reform local zoning restrictions that constrain the construction of high-quality, mixed-income housing. The federal government should be subsidizing housing projects that develop mixed-income neighborhoods with quality amenities, vibrant commerce, and natural green spaces. This would go a long way toward ameliorating our still shockingly high rates of residential segregation. 

 

Lastly, the CLRA would repeal the Faircloth Amendment–supported by Senator Jack Reed–which has capped the number of units that public housing authorities can own and operate at their 1999 levels. This legislative failure has needlessly hamstrung the local housing authorities from building and managing dispersed affordable housing units throughout American cities.  

 

If we want Rhode Island to be a place where working families can thrive, we need to fight for policies and laws that will bring down the price of housing for both renters and owners. The CLRA would be a major step towards reining in avaricious corporations that don’t have Rhode Island’s best interests in mind. 

 

Connor Burbridge is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.