This is a laudable piece of legislation; supporters would benefit from having actionable data and facts on the legislation. It is easier to call the Senate with a Bill number and references to votes already taken. I was unable to find anything except Senator Merkley's draft of a proposed Bill https://www.merkley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Mr. Hartman's article references housing costs almost doubling in the Tennessee area of South Nashville, raising rentals from $1000 to $1750 per month; this is a very low estimation https://www.zillow.com/spring-hill-tn/rent-houses/. The economic boom in Tennessee is driven by the legislature's low tax platforms, but comes with huge burdens on existing communities as the influx of new families arrive: Area school districts are finding that their classrooms are full, teacher shortages are astronomical and costs of building new schools are requiring increased taxes on existing families.
The Tennessee legislature has been focused on attracting corporations, but it has not attached development legislation with cost shared specification for schools and infra structure. As a result, the general quality of life is rapidly diminishing for families and individuals, and the corporations are enjoying long-term guarantees of low, or no taxes, while property taxes for individual housing is sky rocketing.
Mr. Merkley's bill touches only a small portion of the transfer of supporting our communities unto families and individuals, and leaving a growing share of the pure profits from new growth on shareholders. His definition of 'Necessities' is abroad umbrella that deserves our attention. For example, TVA and its hundreds of co-op local utilities are effective solutions to locally controlled low electric utility prices and internet costs https://www.tva.com/newsroom/press-releases/tva-s-integrated-resource-plan-calls-for-low-cost-reliable-energy-choices and https://www.tnelectric.org/broadband/. We could easily do something similar with housing.
Mr. Hartman's citation
The End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act bans hedge funds and private equity leeches from owning housing at scale. Merkley noted:
“In order to meet Americans’ housing needs and root out systemic inequities in the housing market, the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act bans hedge funds and private equity investors from owning large numbers of homes by establishing a $20,000 federal tax penalty for each single family home owned by a single company and its affiliates over 100 homes.
“The bill allows companies with large portfolios to sell homes over several years to come into compliance so there’s an orderly exit, and includes incentives to make sure buyers of divested homes are ordinary people who will live in the home. The tax penalties collected will be used to provide down payment assistance to homebuyers.”
It’s not often legislation so precisely identifies a problem of crisis proportions and offers such common-sense remedies. There’s a petition in support of this bill at Daily Kos worth taking a moment to sign.
This is a laudable piece of legislation; supporters would benefit from having actionable data and facts on the legislation. It is easier to call the Senate with a Bill number and references to votes already taken. I was unable to find anything except Senator Merkley's draft of a proposed Bill https://www.merkley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/end_hedge_fund_control_of_american_homes_act_bill_text.pdf
Mr. Hartman's article references housing costs almost doubling in the Tennessee area of South Nashville, raising rentals from $1000 to $1750 per month; this is a very low estimation https://www.zillow.com/spring-hill-tn/rent-houses/. The economic boom in Tennessee is driven by the legislature's low tax platforms, but comes with huge burdens on existing communities as the influx of new families arrive: Area school districts are finding that their classrooms are full, teacher shortages are astronomical and costs of building new schools are requiring increased taxes on existing families.
The Tennessee legislature has been focused on attracting corporations, but it has not attached development legislation with cost shared specification for schools and infra structure. As a result, the general quality of life is rapidly diminishing for families and individuals, and the corporations are enjoying long-term guarantees of low, or no taxes, while property taxes for individual housing is sky rocketing.
Mr. Merkley's bill touches only a small portion of the transfer of supporting our communities unto families and individuals, and leaving a growing share of the pure profits from new growth on shareholders. His definition of 'Necessities' is abroad umbrella that deserves our attention. For example, TVA and its hundreds of co-op local utilities are effective solutions to locally controlled low electric utility prices and internet costs https://www.tva.com/newsroom/press-releases/tva-s-integrated-resource-plan-calls-for-low-cost-reliable-energy-choices and https://www.tnelectric.org/broadband/. We could easily do something similar with housing.
Mr. Hartman's citation
The End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act bans hedge funds and private equity leeches from owning housing at scale. Merkley noted:
“In order to meet Americans’ housing needs and root out systemic inequities in the housing market, the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act bans hedge funds and private equity investors from owning large numbers of homes by establishing a $20,000 federal tax penalty for each single family home owned by a single company and its affiliates over 100 homes.
“The bill allows companies with large portfolios to sell homes over several years to come into compliance so there’s an orderly exit, and includes incentives to make sure buyers of divested homes are ordinary people who will live in the home. The tax penalties collected will be used to provide down payment assistance to homebuyers.”
It’s not often legislation so precisely identifies a problem of crisis proportions and offers such common-sense remedies. There’s a petition in support of this bill at Daily Kos worth taking a moment to sign.