H.R. 3214 — HOME Act of 2025

This section provides definitions for terms used in the Act: (1) affordable housing crisis period as the period during which the prohibition under section 3(a)(1) applies; (2) Secretary as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; (3) single-family housing as a residence consisting of 1 to 4 dwelling units, excluding a dwelling unit in a condominium or cooperative housing project; and (4) United States as including each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and any territory or possession of the United States.

This section prohibits any person from renting a dwelling unit or selling single-family housing at unconscionably excessive prices that exploit an affordable housing crisis during a crisis period declared by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via Federal Register notice. For such a determination, the Secretary considers factors including mortgage interest rates, the effective Federal funds rate, median rental and home sale prices, median household income, and major disaster or emergency declarations under the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191); the prohibition lasts up to 30 consecutive days (renewable in 30-day increments, with up to 1 week of preemptive application), with violations assessed based on prices exceeding prior 30-day benchmarks or comparable units (aggravated by such excesses, mitigated by increased supply), following advance notice. This section provides an affirmative defense if price increases reasonably reflect additional costs, risks, or anticipated expenses (excluding futures market transactions) and directs HUD to enforce violations as under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.), with state attorneys general authorized to bring civil actions for injunctions, penalties, compliance, and resident compensation after notice to HUD.

This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to investigate potential manipulation of rental housing prices or single-family home sale prices through reduced housing capacity, other market manipulations, or price gouging, including consideration of mergers and acquisitions involving real estate developers, managers, owners, and investors. Not later than 270 days after enactment, the Secretary must submit a report to Congress containing (1) a long-term strategy for the department and Congress to address such market manipulations, utilizing data on race, gender, and socioeconomic status; and (2) a description and analysis of non-occupant investors' impact on underserved communities. The section exempts information collection for the investigation from the Paperwork Reduction Act and authorizes $1 million for FY2025.

This section establishes within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) the Housing Monitoring and Enforcement Unit. The Unit's primary responsibility is to assist the HUD Secretary in protecting the public interest by continuously collecting, monitoring, and analyzing data on rental housing markets, single-family home sales markets, and investor-owned non-owner-occupied housing units to support transparent and competitive practices, identify market manipulation (including via data on race, gender, and socioeconomic status, false reporting, consumer-disadvantaging market power, or unfair competition), and facilitate enforcement of penalties. To fulfill this role, the Unit assists the Secretary in (1) receiving, compiling, and analyzing buying and selling activity to detect anomalous trends and suspicious behavior; (2) determining whether excessive concentration or exclusive control of housing-related infrastructure enables anti-competitive behaviors; and (3) obtaining data-sharing agreements with state and local jurisdictions, housing agencies, and public and private sources on institutional investor housing purchases.

This section requires the Secretary to monitor purchases of single-family housing in each U.S. housing market area, as determined by the Secretary, and to investigate if (1) any single purchaser, including an institutional investor, acquires more than 5% of such housing made available for sale in any market area over a three-year period, or (2) large institutional investors in aggregate acquire more than 25% over a one-year period. The investigation must examine the purposes and circumstances of such purchases, including price gouging, market manipulation, and unfair investment practices that drive homeowners out of the market.

This section directs the Secretary, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to jointly (1) carry out a program to collect information identifying rental housing screening practices that unfairly prevent applicants and tenants from accessing or remaining in housing—including tenant background checks, algorithmic tenant screenings, adverse action notices by landlords and property managers, and use of tenant income source information—and (2) submit annual reports to Congress describing the collected information.

This section directs the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to issue regulations, after notice and a public hearing, establishing standards and criteria for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases of multifamily rental housing mortgages to ensure basic renter protections and prevent egregious rent increases.

This section directs the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to jointly conduct a review to identify anti-competitive behaviors, including anti-competitive information sharing, in the single-family housing and residential rental markets and to submit a report to Congress on the findings not later than one year after enactment.