The Senate’s bipartisan housing bill already had big problems with House Republicans — but now it’s got issues with Democrats, too.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is joining administration officials, the House GOP, and industry stakeholders in objecting to language in the bill that would require investors in more than 350 homes to sell any rental properties they build to individuals within seven years.
The provision, added as part of the Trump administration’s proposed ban on institutional investors in housing, is “positively Soviet,” Schatz (who voted against advancing the bill this week) said on the floor on Wednesday. “We have decided, for no particular reason other than what I think is a drafting error, to demonize people who want to build rental housing.”
While the White House has signaled the bill wouldn’t face a veto, it’s got a long way to go before reaching President Donald Trump’s desk.