Press Releases
Watchdog: Inflation Outlook Improves but Corporate Price Gouging Remains High
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Labor Department’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report revealed a steady slowdown in rising prices, easing the burden on American families ahead of the holiday season. Housing costs, which have been a primary driver of inflation for the past year, remained stubbornly high in November. The news comes amid the Biden administration’s fight to improve fairness and lower costs in the rental market, as well as new legislation from Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) to ban hedge funds from owning single family homes and ongoing efforts led by Senator Sherrod Brown to bar investors from receiving tax breaks after buying single-family homes.
Even with easing costs, housing remains largely unaffordable for millions of Americans due to corporate profiteering and greedy practices from many landlords. Compounding the issue is consolidation in hedge fund control over American homes. By 2030, private investors are expected to control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes. New analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US revealed today that the real estate industry has spent millions while combatting cost-saving efforts from lawmakers aimed to minimize Wall Street’s profits in the rental industry.
Today’s inflation report is great news for American families and makes clear the value of President Biden’s efforts to lower costs for millions, but stubbornly high housing costs makes clear there is more work needed to crack down on corporate landlord profiteering. Keeping costs low and housing affordable will be difficult as long as corporate CEOs view American neighborhoods as an opportunity for profit, rather than real communities where people live. The Biden administration is putting people over corporate interests. It’s time for Congress to do the same by cracking down on corporate greed and driving Wall Street out of the rental market.”
