His statement was that he would ban “large institutional investors” from buying more single family homes. It does not say he would force them to liquidate those they already own.
I am not sure he has true constitutional authority to do this. Yes, the federal government regulates publicly traded companies, but we shall see what happens. It could be argued, I suppose, that this represents regulation of interstate commerce, which is allowable under the Constitution. But that is a bit of a stretch.
I agree that it is desirable to get large corporations out of this business. This should be handled by state legislatures passing laws banning them from this kind of activity. Thus far, the Republicans in the NC General Assembly have obdurately refused to do so. They need to do the right thing. This ought not be something Trump should have to do. We can take care of what happens in our own state.
Incidentally, after this was announced yesterday, the stocks of several of the companies engaged in this activity– Blackstone, Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent– all had sharp declines in their respective stock values.
Be the first to reply