Demand Progress

The American housing market is starting to look like this: Wall Street, real estate algorithms, and giant corporations vs. people.

The Department of Justice recently joined a lawsuit filed by tenants against big real estate corporations for price-fixing the housing market with the help of a computer algorithm.¹ As big corporate landlords buy up American housing in huge chunks, Wall Street is exploiting renters, homeowners, and potential home buyers. It’s time for Congress to stand up for the people and keep Wall Street OUT of American housing.

Sign the petition: The housing in our neighborhoods should be homes for people, not profit centers for Wall Street. Congress must pass the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act!

When giant corporations and Wall Street hedge funds buy up a block of homes or a whole neighborhood of housing, they are saying one thing clearly: We are here to make as much profit off of the people as possible. And their price-fixing algorithms help along the way.

The “End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act” would ban Wall Street from buying up single family houses, allowing more everyday people to finally purchase their own home.²

Renters and home buyers can’t compete with billions and billions of corporate dollars and exploitative algorithms. We need our elected officials to do as much as they can to stop Wall Street from taking over the housing market.

Add your name: Congress must stop Wall Street from profiting off of what we need to live! Pass the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act.

Sources:

1. ProPublica, "DOJ Backs Tenants in Case Alleging Price-Fixing by Big Landlords and a Real Estate Tech Company," November 16, 2023.
2. New York Times, “What Happens When Wall Street Buys Most of the Homes on Your Block?” September 16, 2023.