Biden Proposes Renters Bill of Rights as Landlords Make Record Profits; Housing Advocates Want More

[Uncle Joe]

A new Biden administration plan announced Wednesday aims to make rent more affordable and protect tenants' rights. This comes as rental costs in the United States rose nearly 25% between 2019 and 2022. It also comes as investors bought nearly a quarter of all single-family homes sold in 2021, making home ownership increasingly impossible for people forced to spend much of their money on ever-increasing rent. Housing activists pushed for the "Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights" in the administration's finalized plan to regulate predatory rental practices and provide relief for tenants, but say what was ultimately included is full of weak commitments and a lack of federal enforceability, while landlords retain their power to set prices and hoard housing stock. We discuss the affordable housing crisis, tenant organizing and the limits of Biden's new plan with Tara Raghuveer, Homes Guarantee campaign director at People's Action.

[Archae]

1. I do see one problem with this advocacy, so care should be taken.

Squatters.

Just go to Youtube and look up "squatters," and you'll see many stories of people who had to spend thousands to evict non-paying renters, and quite often repair and clean up horrendous damages to the home.

[Uncle Joe]

2. I would wager that the squatter problem and homeless catastrophe both spring

from the same national dysfunction of elevating the almighty dollar above all else in our society, corporate supremacy and oligarchy.

For far too long its' been 'what's good for Wall Street must be good for main street,' that seems to be corporate media's take on it anyway.

Privatize everything under the sun because "government is the problem" but when a society has that kind of mentality, millions if not tens of millions of the people will be left behind and desperate people are more likely to turn to desperate measures.