January 25, 2023

Brown Applauds Biden-Harris Administration's Actions to Protect Renters

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, issued the following statement after the Biden-Harris Administration released a blueprint on enhancing protections for renters.

“Too many renters in Ohio and around the country pay more than they can afford for homes that put their health at risk, or live in constant fear of losing their homes through eviction,” said Brown. “Home impacts everything in a person’s life, and today’s announcements are another important step to bringing everyone together – federal, state, and local partners, as well as landlords and advocates – to create a market that works for America’s renters.”

Brown has led the charge to protect renters from predatory landlords and unjust evictions and to hold landlords accountable. He helped create the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which has helped millions of renters stay in their homes. Brown also held a listening session to hear from renters who were harmed by investor landlords, and three hearings on the growing role of private equity and institutional investors and poor treatment of tenants in the rental market. In December, he wrote to VineBrook Homes demanding answers about the single-family rental company’s poor property management, missed tax bills, and frequent evictions of Cincinnati-area renters. Brown also wrote to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau urging them to protect renters from abuses by tenant screening companies and urged the Federal Trade Commission to review companies like RealPage for anticompetitive behavior by allowing landlords to collude in raising rents.  

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