With a new bill before the Legislature, Utah can take one small step toward ensuring the American Dream

By Valerie Hudson

The housing crisis facing the United States is not just about housing stock, zoning, mortgage rates or government regulations. The ability of Americans to buy their own home is at the foundation of family formation and wealth accumulation sufficient to create a middle class. It also provides the material foundation of the American conception of freedom. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it, “A nation of homeowners, of people who own a real share in their land, is unconquerable.” Dispersed property ownership is one key hallmark of democracy.

But we’ve seen that foundation eroded by what some have called the “new feudalism.” Young families have been forced to become a type of serf, where they will stand very little chance of getting on the property ladder, and where the wealth they might otherwise have built for their family’s future goes to high rents instead. Neighborhoods and communities are weakened in the new feudalism, for property-holding is associated with greater emotional and economic investment by families. Fertility rates are also affected by the ability to own housing, as young families prefer less dense housing, cost stability and the ability to build equity to help meet the family’s needs.

In addition, to whom a young family’s rent is paid has also changed dramatically. Investment firms have robustly moved into the single-family housing market, in addition to their traditional interest in multiple-family dwellings. Approximately 1 in 5 homes is bought by an investment firm now (in some areas, it’s 1 in 3), and homeownership rates are dropping. In the 1970s, homeownership stood at about 63%; among young adults, it’s now down to 37%, and that’s not necessarily by choice. Investment bidding on housing has driven up prices dramatically.

These powerful landlords have raised rents by an average of 23% nationwide in the past year, and up to 40% in some locales, as well as tacked on numerous new fees (some patently extortionate), not to mention the euphemistically called practice of “re-tenanting.” Repairs are now typically made the responsibility of tenants.

https://www.deseret.com/2024/2/15/24073174/housing-crisis-high-rent-costs-investment-firms-landlords