HOME Act of 2025

Protection against price gouging: During an affordable housing crisis, it becomes unlawful to rent or sell single-family housing at unconscionably excessive prices that exploit the crisis (Section 3(a)(1)).

Increased housing supply for low-income families: Funds collected from penalties for violations are deposited into the Housing Trust Fund to increase and preserve rental housing for extremely low- and very low-income families (Section 3(e)).

Enhanced market transparency: The creation of a Housing Monitoring and Enforcement Unit helps protect the public interest by monitoring rental and single-family housing market data (Section 5(a)(1)).

Investigation of market manipulation: The Secretary is tasked with investigating if housing prices are being artificially increased through market manipulation or by reducing housing capacity (Section 4(a)(1)).

Monitoring of large-scale purchasers: The Secretary will monitor if single purchasers or large institutional investors are purchasing excessive amounts of single-family housing in a market area (Section 6).

Identification of unfair rental practices: Agencies will work together to identify practices that unfairly prevent applicants or tenants from accessing or staying in housing, such as specific background check methods or algorithm uses (Section 7(1)).

Potential burdens on sellers/lessors: A person may face legal prohibitions if they increase prices during a crisis, though they can use the defense that the increase reflects additional costs or risks incurred (Section 3(a)(1) and Section 3(b)).

Restrictions on mortgage purchases: The Director of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will establish standards and criteria for purchasing mortgages on multifamily rental housing to prevent rent increases (Section 8).