WASHINGTON– This week, Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) zeroed in on the housing crisis facing many Nevadans and Americans overall. The week started with welcoming President Joe Biden to Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, at the Stupak Community Center where the President addressed Nevadans about his Administration’s work to lower costs for all Americans and address the housing crisis head on. The day after the President's visit to Nevada, in a hearing held by the House Financial Services Housing Subcommittee, Horsford raised questions about the out-of-state Wall Street speculators all-cash transactions and their impact on homebuyers. This follows the Congressman joining several of his colleagues on a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell on the importance of lowering interest rates to ensure housing affordability. During the Housing Subcommittee hearing, Horsford noted the alarming increase in all-cash sales of homes that price out average American's trying to buy their first homes with mortgage products, and highlighted the lack of data on institutional investors. He called on the Subcommittee to schedule a hearing on his legislation, the HOME Act, H.R. 702. "It's information that we do not know about these institutional investors. It's why I think it's important that HUD be able to collect the necessary data from our housing market to get an accurate picture. That is why, last year, I introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation, or H.O.M.E Act, to empower HUD to gather the data needed to understand the severity of our housing shortage and protect everyday Nevadans from being exploited by potential market manipulators," Horsford said in the hearing. During the event with President Biden, Congressman Horsford highlighted legislative efforts to address the housing crisis.
Horsford delivered the following remarks: “Over the last 3 years and 3 months, since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office and with Democrats in Congress, we have put People over Politics. Because of you and the priorities you told us to focus on, we delivered by lowering costs for all families – whether it's capping the costs of insulin and prescription drugs, providing low-cost internet service to all households, lowering health care premiums, or pushing through to forgive student loans despite roadblocks put up by Republicans, their lawsuits, and the courts. And it’s because of you that we’ve pushed President Biden and Vice President Harris to focus on one of the most pressing issues facing families in Nevada, and that’s the issue of housing.” During the President’s State of the Union, he announced several initiatives to address the affordable housing crisis in our nation. Proposals include $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and those that sell their starter homes, and $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-generation homebuyers. It also includes forming the new Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing which will work on having federal agencies to root out and stop illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on American families through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices.
Horsford added: “Seven out of ten of the most common jobs in Las Vegas do not pay enough to rent a studio apartment anymore. 70 percent of hospitality workers, culinary workers, bartenders, or servers cannot even rent a place of their own without being rent-burdened, let alone achieve the American dream of homeownership. We must protect the American Dream, the Vegas dream, of homeownership. And we need to take on the out-of-state Wall Street speculators who are buying up our homes, and driving up the cost of rents and mortgages in our neighborhoods…
"…That’s why I introduced the HOME Act – H.R. 702. My bill cracks down on these artificial price hikes. It gives the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development the power to go after companies artificially manipulating the housing market and causing a housing crisis.” Congressman Horsford recently joined a bicameral letter to the Federal Reserve urging action to reduce interest rates and clear a path for access to affordable housing for more Nevadans. |
