Biden's 5% Rent Cap Plan — President's Announcement Stirs Confusion Over Rent Hike Crackdown

President Joe Biden seemed to unveil a new measure to address rent increases at a news conference following last week’s NATO summit in Washington, D.C.

Biden aimed to ease concerns about the viability of his reelection campaign after a poor debate performance against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump last month. While discussing the economy, Biden made what appeared to be a campaign promise.

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"It's time — for example, if I'm reelected, we're going to make sure that rents are kept at 5% increase, cor- — corporate rents for cor- — apartments and the like and homes are limited to 5%," Biden said, according to the official White House transcript.

Biden's remarks may suggest an intention to strengthen the 10% annual cap that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development introduced in April. The cap now only applies to affordable units financed through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.

However, the president's wording has led some housing policy experts to speculate that he might propose a more extensive national cap on corporate rents for traditional housing units.

The White House did not clarify Biden's comment but highlighted various actions the administration has taken to protect renters. These include providing emergency rental assistance to eight million renters during the COVID-19 pandemic and proposing measures to eliminate junk rental fees and price-fixing.

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"The president has taken a number of actions to cap rents and crack down on price gouging by corporate landlords and will continue to take action and build on these efforts," White House spokesperson Jeremy Edwards told Realtor.com in a statement.

Biden may have simply misspoken about the administration's earlier announced 10% rent caps on LIHTC units, incorrectly identifying the degree of the cap.

The previous policy on LIHTC units limited rent increases to 5% or double the percentage change in the national median income, whichever was higher. The new rule caps increases at 10% regardless of how fast incomes increase.

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LIHTC is a federal tax credit program designed to spur investment in affordable housing projects. According to HUD, the program has created at least 3.65 million affordable housing units since 1987.

However, housing policy experts suggest that Biden's comments may have unintentionally hinted at undisclosed plans for a wider crackdown on what the administration calls "rent gouging by corporate landlords" in traditional rental units.

"It's not the first time that he's mentioned wanting to cap rents," said Sarah Saadian, senior vice president of public policy and field organizing at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "I'd be really interested to know if the administration is planning a move on that because we've been pushing for a long time to put in place really strong renter protections, and one of those is anti-rent-gouging." 

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