Anti-Single-Family Rental Bills Make a Committee Appearance
February 10, 2026
Legislation that would restrict institutional investors’ ability to own single-family houses has been “attached” to a House Financial Services Committee hearing today, Tuesday, February 10.
Why it matters: This action indicates the legislation could advance through committee process and potentially to the House floor, though a markup or floor action is not yet planned.
- As we covered previously, the White House issued an executive order on January 20 covering institutional ownership of single-family homes targeting single-family rentals. The order mainly focuses on government agencies and curtailing federal involvement with such arrangements. Click here for CREFC’s analysis of the order.
- Industry observers originally thought committee action was unlikely given the stances of GOP committee leadership, but this is viewed as an escalation of the issue, even if the legislation ultimately does not advance.
- On February 9, the White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy that praises the Housing for the 21st Century Act, but it notes the bill lacks a ban on institutional investors purchasing single-family homes. If the White House insists on that provision, it could complicate a housing bill’s path to enactment.
Go deeper: The following bills are attached to today’s hearing, though they may not be substantively discussed by the witnesses or the committee members:
- H.R. 6962, the Families First Housing Act of 2026 (Rep. Pat Harrigan R-NC). This bill requires federal agencies selling single-family homes they own to create a 180-day window in which the property is only available for purchase by “qualified first-look” buyers. Those buyers are defined as a natural person intending to occupy the property as their primary residence, nonprofit housing organizations, units of local government, or community land trusts. The legislation would also require each federal agency with disposition authority to establish and maintain a public website identifying eligible properties available for sale.
- H.R. 7186, the American Family Housing Act (Rep. Mary Miller R-IL). This bill directs the SEC to monitor and prohibit investment firms with more than $100 billion in assets from purchasing single-family homes or from acquiring more than a 49 percent ownership in entities that own more than 100 single-family properties.
- H.R. __, a bill to set restrictions on the sale of single-family homes by the federal government (Rep. Marlin Stutzman R-IN). This discussion draft directs various federal agencies that finance single-family mortgage loans or sell real estate-owned properties to implement guidelines that restrict the guaranteeing, securitization, or transfer of single-family homes to large institutional investors. The legislation also includes narrow, tailored exceptions for build-to-rent developments that are planned, permitted, and financed as rental communities, along with other limited exceptions determined by the relevant agency head.
Contact David McCarthy (dmccarthy@crefc.org) with questions.