The Rent Relief Act was a U.S. federal bill proposed by Kamala Harris in 2018 that would offer tax credits to renters who earn less than $100,000 and spend over 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. [1]
Kamala Harris stated that the bill "[bolster] the economic security of working families." [2]
The bill was criticized for its proposal that would create rental subsidies, but fail to address the underlying cause of the high housing prices. [3] [4] The Tax Foundation found that the proposed program would benefit landlords more than renters and lead to market distortion. [5]
Experts have stated that in housing supply-constrained states like California, this proposal would increase rents as landlords would increase their prices to absorb the additional money tenants would now have available for rent payments. [1]
In the United States, rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling. More loosely, "rent control" describes several types of price control:
The affordability of housing in the UK reflects the ability to rent or buy property. There are various ways to determine or estimate housing affordability. One commonly used metric is the median housing affordability ratio; this compares the median price paid for residential property to the median gross annual earnings for full-time workers. According to official government statistics, housing affordability worsened between 2020 and 2021, and since 1997 housing affordability has worsened overall, especially in London. The most affordable local authorities in 2021 were in the North West, Wales, Yorkshire and The Humber, West Midlands and North East.
A rental agreement is a contract of rental, usually written, between the owner of a property and a renter who desires to have temporary possession of the property; it is distinguished from a lease, which is more typically for a fixed term. As a minimum, the agreement identifies the parties, the property, the term of the rental, and the amount of rent for the term. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.
Jeonse, also known as chŏnse, key money deposit or key money, is a type of lease or deposit common in the South Korean real estate market. Instead of paying monthly rent, a renter will make a lump-sum deposit on a rental space, at anywhere from 50% to 80% of the market value, which is then returned at the end of the lease term. The owners make profit from reinvesting the jeonse deposit, instead of receiving the monthly rent. It is also possible to combine a lower jeonse deposit with a small monthly rent; this is known as banjeonse
The YIMBY movement is a pro-housing movement that focuses on encouraging new housing, opposing density limits, and supporting public transportation. It stands in opposition to NIMBY tendencies, which generally oppose most forms of urban development in order to maintain the status quo.
Housing Benefit is a means-tested social security benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation. It is the second biggest item in the Department for Work and Pensions' budget after the state pension, totalling £23.8 billion in 2013–14.
Rent regulation is a system of laws for the rental market of dwellings, with controversial effects on affordability of housing and tenancies. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:
The Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act ("Costa–Hawkins") is a California state law enacted in 1995, placing limits on municipal rent control ordinances. Costa–Hawkins preempts the field in two major ways. First, it prohibits cities from establishing rent control over certain kinds of residential units, such as single-family dwellings, condominiums, and newly constructed apartment units. Second, it prohibits "vacancy control", also called "strict" rent control. The legislation was sponsored by Democratic Senator Jim Costa and Republican assembly member Phil Hawkins.
Housing in the United Kingdom represents the largest non-financial asset class in the UK; its overall net value passed the £5 trillion mark in 2014. Housing includes modern and traditional styles. About 30% of homes are owned outright by their occupants, and a further 40% are owner-occupied on a mortgage. About 18% are social housing of some kind, and the remaining 12% are privately rented.
Starting in the 1990s, the city of San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area have faced a serious housing shortage. The Bay Area's housing shortage is part of the broader California housing shortage.
Since about 1970, California has been experiencing an extended and increasing housing shortage, such that by 2018, California ranked 49th among the states of the U.S. in terms of housing units per resident. This shortage has been estimated to be 3-4 million housing units as of 2017. As of 2018, experts said that California needs to double its current rate of housing production to keep up with expected population growth and prevent prices from further increasing, and needs to quadruple the current rate of housing production over the next seven years in order for prices and rents to decline.
Eviction in the United States refers to the pattern of tenant removal by landlords in the United States. In an eviction process, landlords forcibly remove tenants from their place of residence and reclaim the property. Landlords may decide to evict tenants who have failed to pay rent, violated lease terms, or possess an expired lease. Landlords may also choose not to renew a tenant's lease, however, this does not constitute an eviction. In the United States, eviction procedures, landlord rights, and tenant protections vary by state and locality. Historically, the United States has seen changes in domestic eviction rates during periods of major socio-political and economic turmoil—including the Great Depression, the 2008 Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic. High eviction rates are driven by affordable housing shortages and rising housing costs. Across the United States, low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods have disproportionately higher eviction rates. Certain demographics—including low income renters, Black and Hispanic renters, women, and people with children—are also at a greater risk of eviction. Additionally, eviction filings remain on renters' public records. This can make it more difficult for renters to access future housing, since most landlords will not rent to a tenant with a history of eviction. Eviction and housing instability are also linked to many negative health and life outcomes, including homelessness, poverty, and poor mental and physical health.
Michael 'Mike' Howard is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Howard represents District 51A in the south-central Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the city of Richfield and parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.
Dean E. Preston is an American attorney and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In November 2019, Preston won a special election to finish Mayor London Breed's term on the Board of Supervisors. He was re-elected in the November 2020 election.
The political positions of Kamala Harris are reflected by her United States Senate voting record, public speeches, and interviews. Harris served as the junior senator from California from 2017 to 2021. On August 11, 2020, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden selected her as his running mate in the 2020 United States presidential election, running against incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence. With Biden's victory, Harris became vice president. She announced her candidacy in the 2024 United States presidential election after Biden chose not to run for reelection on July 21, 2024.
Cancel rent is a slogan and tenant rights movement in the United States, which advocates for the cancellation of rental payments and suspension of mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Activists and organizations have also presented other demands, which include the cancellation of housing-related expenses, cancellation of late fees for housing payments, the establishment of a landlord hardship fund, an increase in emergency housing, and an eviction moratorium. The movement was triggered by the economic impact of the pandemic, in which mass business closures and employee layoffs resulted in financial insecurity for many Americans. Tenants faced a range of issues, including the inability to pay rent, harassment or intimidation from landlords, and potential eviction. This situation put tenants at risk of damaged credit ratings, food insecurity, and homelessness. Consequently, activists, tenants rights organizations, and some politicians have called for the cancellation of rent.
California Proposition 15 was a failed citizen-initiated proposition on the November 3, 2020, ballot. It would have provided $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion in new funding for public schools, community colleges, and local government services by creating a "split roll" system that increased taxes on large commercial properties by assessing them at market value, without changing property taxes for small business owners or residential properties for homeowners or renters. The measure failed by a small margin of about four percentage points.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a US$1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to speed up the country's recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. First proposed on January 14, 2021, the package builds upon many of the measures in the CARES Act from March 2020 and in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, from December.
The term "affordable housing" refers to housing that is considered economically accessible for individuals and families whose household income falls at or below the Area Median Income (AMI), as evaluated by either national or local government authorities through an officially recognized housing affordability index. However, in the US, the term is mostly used to refer to housing units that are deed restricted to households considered Low-Income, Very Low-Income, and Extremely Low-Income. These units are most often constructed by non-profit "affordable housing developers" who use a combination of private money and government subsidies. For-profit developers, when building market-rate developments, may include some "affordable" units, if required as part of a city's inclusionary zoning mandate.
Kamala Harris, the 49th and incumbent vice president of the United States, announced her 2024 campaign for president on July 21, 2024, after incumbent President Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and endorsed her earlier the same day. Harris became the official nominee of the Democratic Party on August 5 following a virtual roll call vote; she selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate the following day. Harris is the first nominee who did not participate in the primaries since Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1968. It was also the shortest general election presidential campaign in history, lasting only 107 days.
But in California, where housing scarcity is driving an affordability crisis, experts warn that Harris' proposal could have the unintended consequence of increasing rents for everyone. ... Harris' proposed tax credit is "a sensible policy" in Iowa, ... and other parts of the country where housing supply is keeping up with demand, said Caroline Danielson, policy director and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. But "in a place like California, where we have a housing supply crunch, it seems to me like we would get ourselves into a vicious cycle and not solve our problems," Danielson said. Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy expert in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., agreed. With housing so scarce in the state, "Landlords collectively are likely to increase their asking rents for all apartments if they expect that some group of people in the city will have more money to spend on rent," Schuetz told McClatchy. "This just gives more money to landlords without fixing the underlying problem."