ICYMI: Warnock, Atlanta Mayor Dickens, Councilmember Boone Celebrate Warnock-Led Provision That Will Keep Homes in the Hands of Georgia Families

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock’s provision to ban large corporations from mass purchasing single-family homes is federal law

Senator Reverend Warnock:?“Housing is dignity, housing is stability, housing is hope”

Atlanta, GA?– U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) held a press conference in the Adamsville neighborhood of Atlanta with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Atlanta City District 10 Councilmember Andrea Boone, and prospective first-time homebuyer Jacob Parcel to celebrate the enactment of Senator Warnock’s landmark provision prohibiting private equity firms from mass-purchasing single-family homes.

The provision, and many other provisions championed by Senator Reverend Warnock, are included in the bipartisan?21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,?the largest housing reform and affordability legislation in a generation. Despite?passing the House and Senate with?overwhelming bipartisan support, President Donald Trump declined to sign the bill within the constitutionally designated 10-day timeline, prompting formal enactment to occur?without the?president’s signature.

In addition to the ban on private equity, the?21st?Century Road to Housing Act?also includes?provisions?from Senator Warnock’s Appraisal Modernization Act, the only fair housing provision in the legislation, and several bills Senator Warnock has championed for years to reform rural housing programs, penalize local governments for failing to meet housing goals, incentivize local governments and banks to invest more in the construction of housing, and provide grants and forgivable loans to help homeowners repair and weatherize their properties.

More media coverage of Senator Reverend Warnock’s press conference below:

• WANF:?Warnock?authored the section of the bill that caps the number of homes corporations can own at 350 per investor group, with a fine of $1 million or three-times the price of a home’s value for every property they own over the cap.

• WABE:?U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock celebrated a bipartisan housing affordability package becoming federal law this weekend, which includes a provision he championed capping corporate ownership of single-family homes.

• Atlanta Voice:?Warnock said there was still work to be done. The act doesn’t apply to homes that have already been purchased by corporations. Asked what the act means for the corporations or private equity that might remain involved in the Georgia housing market. Warnock said, “I want to stop the spread. They are picking homes like you, and I pick tomatoes in the grocery store.”

• Courier Georgia:?During a press conference Monday, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) celebrated the legislation. He wrote several key provisions, including the limit on the number of additional homes private equity can buy and the measure making discrimination in the appraisal process illegal. “Let’s be clear, if you’re a single mom,” he said, “you cannot compete with Wall Street. They will outbid you every time, and so this is about fairness.”

• AJC: Standing in front of a three-bedroom Adamsville rental owned by a private equity firm, the Democratic senator was joined by Mayor Andre Dickens and Atlanta City Council member Andrea Boone, both of whom grew up in the Westside community. “They are picking houses the way you pick tomatoes at the grocery store,” said?Warnock, calling Atlanta “ground zero” of corporate homeownership.

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