Trump privately raises objection to Senate housing bill

President Donald Trump is privately raising concerns with a Senate-approved housing bill that his White House previously supported — and almost made his objections public late last week.

Trump was on the verge of putting out a social media post taking issue with the major housing affordability package the Senate approved this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The president doesn’t support language in the bill that would require large institutional investors to sell single-family homes that are built as long-term rentals after seven years, the people said.

He ultimately held off on sending the post out.

Trump’s concerns could complicate the delicate negotiations surrounding the largest housing measure seriously taken up by Congress in years. Senators have been pushing the House to accept their bill without changes in order to ensure its quick passage, but Trump’s objections — which haven’t been previously reported — could give new momentum to House members who want to force amendments to the proposal.

“President Trump has been laser-focused on making housing more affordable,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement. “The President will not stop fighting until the American Dream of homeownership is within reach for every American, which is why he continues to sign bold new executive orders and calls on Congress to pass further legislation.” He did not mention the Senate legislation, which the White House has previously endorsed.

Officials in the administration and Congress have been eyeing the legislation as a domestic win to sell to voters ahead of this year’s midterm elections, where cost of living has been a central theme. The bill contains a slew of provisions intended to increase the number of homes available for people to purchase and boost individual homeownership amid a national housing shortage that has pushed up home prices.

The provision that has drawn Trump’s ire was added to the bill as part of an effort to satisfy Trump’s demand that the legislation crack down on Wall Street’s footprint in the housing market. Proponents say the build-to-rent proposal would make more housing available for American families to buy, but many in the housing industry say the provision has frozen capital for constructing such properties.

The Senate passed the housing measure, dubbed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, as an effort to combine both chambers’ priorities, in March with wide bipartisan backing. But the legislation has run into major roadblocks in the House, where lawmakers want more of their priorities included. The build-to-rent language that Trump is taking issue with has drawn pushback from key House members in both parties.

Senators want the House to accept their bill as-is in order to avoid opening new negotiations and burning more precious floor time on the measure.

Trump agreed to hold off on weighing in while White House staff work to find an arrangement that will bring along Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee who also oppose the broader move to bar institutional investors from buying single-family homes, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.

The housing bill is also caught up in a debate over major cryptocurrency legislation that Senate Republicans hope to advance this month. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) — a key swing vote on the crypto bill — has previously expressed reservations about supporting the effort if the House does not act on the Senate’s housing bill, as POLITICO first reported in March. He has expressed frustration that the White House has not done more to pressure the House to accept the housing package.