Today, Groundwork Collaborative’s Executive Director, Lindsay Owens, participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by key members of the Senate’s Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. The conversation, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, featured commentary from Groundwork and other organizations that are leading the fight for affordable housing.
In her remarks, Owens focused on the gap between policymakers’ past action to bring down housing costs and the effort that most prospective buyers actually favor: reining in corporate power. Americans, by significant margins, want lawmakers and regulators to crack down on the corporate landlords who collude to inflate rent prices and levy hidden fees on working families as well as the corporations gobbling up housing.
Owens’ remarks as prepared for delivery are below.
“One of the great things about Groundwork is that in addition to doing creative and impactful policy and research work, we spend some of our time listening to Americans, using tools like focus groups and polling. We want to hear their concerns about the economy because we believe our policies should be responsive to them.
For nearly five years now, the story they have told us has consistently centered on high prices and soaring costs. And housing almost always ranks near the top of their list of concerns. It’s the largest line item in a family’s monthly budget, and 72% of Americans say it’s getting less affordable for their family, second only to groceries—which are often top of mind because people buy them so frequently.
So, today I’d like to make one point as you craft new housing affordability legislation.
There is a fairly large disconnect between how policy wonks and lawmakers talk about their preferred approach to bringing down housing costs and the approach that most Americans favor. We hear a lot in Washington about zoning reforms, accelerating approval and building timelines, cutting red tape, and boosting the supply of housing units. But these approaches rank near the bottom for most Americans.
Instead Americans–by large margins–favor a different approach. They want you to address the corporate landlords colluding and jacking up their rents, and layering hidden fees on top of those already high rents. And they are particularly concerned about Wall Street investors snapping up single family homes. People want to see concrete action from the government, lawmakers fighting on behalf of them and providing direct support through policies like downpayment and rental assistance.
Of course policymakers can and should choose from both columns A and B. These approaches are often complementary.
But, if you want to address Americans’ concerns, and if you want to develop policy that resonates with renters and homeowners alike, you must include, and ideally lead with, policies that take on outsize corporate power in our rental, mortgage, and home building markets.
I look forward to your questions and am also pleased to announce that Groundwork will be releasing an affordability agenda later this quarter, that includes several innovative new proposals to bring down housing costs. I look forward to sharing those with you soon.”