Houses in suburban Chicago, April 26, 2023.
Brian Cassella | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
A major housing affordability bill set to pass the Senate as early as Thursday will hit a wall in the House, including over concerns about a ban on large investors buying single-family homes.
During a Republican House meeting this week attended by the party’s leaders and committee chairs, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., predicted that the housing measure would likely stall because of differences between the House and Senate versions. He said the bill would likely require discussions between the House and Senate before it could become law if the Senate does not address the broad concerns of House members and House Financial Services Chairman French Hill, R-Ark.
“If the Senate thinks we’re going to take this drug, we’re going to go to conference,” Scalise said, according to three participants who asked not to be identified because it was a closed session. A conference committee consists of lawmakers from both chambers whose job it is to reconcile differences between legislation approved by the House and Senate.
The housing package has received a rare level of bipartisan support in a bitterly divided Congress. A House version of the bill passed in February by a vote of 390-9, while the Senate measure advanced through procedural votes by more than 80 votes.
But Scalise’s outlook on the Senate bill means the legislation will likely have to go through weeks or months of negotiations before it becomes a final bill.
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President Donald Trump called on Congress to not only pass a housing affordability law but also to ban large investors and corporations from purchasing single-family homes.
The request came too late to include the provision in the House bill, but senators agreed on language that would ban companies from owning more than 350 homes. However, companies that build or renovate single-family homes have an exemption that allows them to own more than 350 homes if they sell the additional homes to private buyers after seven years.
Several lawmakers raised issues with this provision during the meeting, according to two participants.
One participant said there were concerns about a lack of capital to build new homes if companies had to sell them after less than a decade. The participant also said the provision could limit real estate agents’ ability to get the best price for the seller.
Hill, who did not attend the meeting, said in a statement that House Democrats “have conveyed our members’ concerns to our Senate colleagues.”
Hill added that lawmakers “look forward to achieving bicameral success on housing policy that will benefit the American people through increased supply and lower construction costs.”
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that the Senate has approved 20 of the key provisions of the House bill, including meeting the right-wing Freedom Caucus’ calls for a five-year ban on central bank digital currencies.
“Our bill is fantastic. Your bill is good,” Scott said. “When we put those two together, we have the bicameral approach to housing.”
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