Newark launches initiatives to stop corporations from buying private homes
ABC 7
4 May, 2022
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Wednesday announced wide-ranging initiatives to combat large corporations from purchases of private homes.
The proposed initiatives are in addition to the mayor's numerous programs to increase homeownership, prevent evictions, avoid gentrification and make housing in Newark more equitable.
Baraka said the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a dangerous decade-long national trend in residential real estate, and in cities and suburbs, corporations are buying up millions of owner-occupied homes and turning them into rentals.
He said the result is rapidly rising rents, decreased homeownership, reduced availability of affordable housing, renter displacement, and less stable communities.
The package of proposed measures are designed to reduce large-scale investor buying of private homes and bolster homeownership in Newark.
Baraka praised "Who Owns Newark," a research report authored by law professor David Troutt, who serves as director of the Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME) and is a member of the city's Equitable Growth Advisory Commission for providing data and recommendations to inform the city's response.
The city will work with the Equitable Growth Advisory Commission to address issues raised by "Who Owns Newark."
"In cities and even suburbs across America, institutional investors are eroding the American dream of homeownership as they convert owner-occupied homes into corporately owned rental units," Baraka said. "In Newark, where we have worked hard for years to expand homeownership, we will do everything possible to combat this dangerous trend. The CLiME report signals that Newark must create stronger and more equitable laws, regulations, and policies to ensure that residents share in the growth of our city."
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Newark launches initiatives to stop corporations from buying private homes