U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) was in Reno Wednesday to discuss her proposed legislation aimed at lowering housing costs and combating corporate price gouging in the housing market.
Rosen met with local community leaders and a resident in a roundtable forum to discuss the bill, called The Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation Act or HOME Act. Provisions in the bill would crack down on artificial rent hikes and property costs in Nevada and nationwide. It also would direct the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “investigate price manipulation and price gouging by investors and make it illegal for anyone to rent or sell a unit during a housing emergency at an unreasonable level” according to her website.
Other members of the community roundtable were Reno City Council member Kathleen Taylor; Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce CEO Ann Silver; Reno Housing Authority Executive Director Hilary Lopez; Nevada Housing Coalition Executive Director Maurice Page; and resident Andrew Rivas, who shared his family’s story about price gouging by what he called “greedy landlords.”
Rosen said the Home Act was designed to stop the influx of corporate investors coming to Nevada, buying large quantities of affordable properties, and driving up mortgage and rent costs for local residents.
“People can not afford to live in the community,” she said. “The Home Act allows us to go after these corporate investors, fine them, and put the fines back into funding for affordable housing.”
Nevada Housing Coalition’s Page also spoke on the rising number of evictions Nevada residents have faced. A disproportionate number of households spend in excess of 30% of their monthly income on housing, he said.
According to Realtor.com, the median home price in Reno is over $500,000, increasing 22% over the past two years. Rosen said having the average price of 50% of the homes being over $500,000 is “ridiculous and unattainable.”
More information on The Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation Act can be found on the senator’s official website.
