Democrats counter Trump’s proposal to limit housing investors

Both congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump both want to limit how many homes major corporations can own, but a new proposal from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., makes it clear that’s where the agreement ends.

In a bill released hours before Trump’s State of the Union speech, Warren, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and 16 other Senate Democrats propose ending some housing-related tax benefits for major corporations. The bill would prevent companies with more than 50 single-family homes for rent from taking deductions for housing value depreciation and mortgage interest payments. Corporations would also be barred from getting federally backed mortgages.

The bill would provide a temporary carve-out for companies building new multifamily housing or rehabilitating properties that would otherwise be uninhabitable.

The Trump administration is pushing its own housing proposal. In a memo sent to lawmakers last week, the administration proposed banning institutional investors who own more than 100 single-family homes from buying any new ones. Trump’s proposal also includes several exceptions for companies that increase the number of single-family homes.

The dueling proposals come as legislation to boost housing supply and affordability is in the home stretch to becoming law. The House passed a bipartisan bill earlier this month with broad support, and the Senate advanced its own bipartisan bill last year. The two sides are working to combine the proposals into a final package.