Published: December 2023

Consumer Action supports bill to ban hedge fund ownership of residential housing

Consumer Action is a supporter of the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023, which would address an urgent issue that has made it more difficult for middle-class Americans to become homeowners and is contribution to America’s twin crises of housing unaffordability and wealth inequality.

Consumer Action voiced its support of the bicameral End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023, introduced by Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representative Adam Smith (D-WA-09). The purchasing of single-family homes by hedge funds, especially in the current housing market, has made it more difficult for middle-class Americans to become homeowners and is contributing to America’s twin crises of housing unaffordability and wealth inequality. Hedge funds and other institutional investors, which, as of June 2022, owned roughly 574,000 single-family homes, maximize profits by imposing high rent increases, inflating fees, and delaying home maintenance and improvements. Quoted in the legislators’ press release about the Act, Consumer Action’s Ruth Susswein said: “Large corporate investors are gutting the U.S. housing market and making it nearly impossible for the average person to purchase a single-family home. This is destroying the American Dream. The End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act creates the sorely needed incentive to curb corporate homeownership and reinvest in underserved communities by imposing a hefty 50% tax on hedge funds that insist on gorging on single-family homes.”

Lead Organization

U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representative Adam Smith

More Information

Read the press release here.

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