MBA Opposes Biden Campaign’s Nationwide Rent Control Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 15, 2024) — MBA’s President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, released the following statement on President Joe Biden’s campaign proposal to cap rents nationally:

“Increasing the supply of affordable rental housing nationwide – not politically-motivated and self-defeating rent control proposals floated during election campaigns – is the best way to alleviate affordability constraints for renters.

“There are endless examples in localities in America and around the world that prove that rent control is a counter-productive policy idea that ultimately harms renters by distorting market pricing, discouraging new construction, and degrading the quality of rental housing. While the odds are stacked against this proposal ever passing Congress, a federal rent control law would be catastrophic to renters and our nation’s rental housing market. 

“MBA is focused on working with the Biden administration, Congress, and local communities on common sense solutions that will boost housing supply, lower costs for renters, and improve the federal government’s multifamily lending programs. One such example would be for the Senate to approve the bipartisan House measure that passed earlier this year that includes meaningful enhancements to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program that would encourage the construction of more low-and moderate-income and workforce housing.”