Congressman Pat Harrigan Introduces Families First Housing Act to Put Families Ahead of Wall Street Investors

Contact: Lexi Kranich (814) 380-4408

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today, Congressman Pat Harrigan (NC-10) introduced the Families First Housing Act, legislation aimed at ensuring American families have the first opportunity to purchase federally backed foreclosed homes before institutional investors and hedge funds move in.

The legislation reflects months of work focused on housing affordability and the growing role of large investors in the single-family housing market. Federal data shows that as recently as 2011, no investor owned 1,000 or more single-family rental homes nationwide. By 2015, institutional investors collectively owned an estimated 170,000 to 300,000 homes, a shift that accelerated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In many fast-growing Sunbelt markets, institutional buyers now account for a significant share of single-family home purchases, tightening supply for families. Those concerns gained renewed attention today when President Trump publicly raised alarms about institutional buyers distorting housing markets, underscoring the urgency of reforms already underway.

"Homeownership is slipping out of reach for a lot of Americans, especially young families," said Congressman Harrigan. "Only about 30 percent of Americans under 35 own a home today, roughly half the rate of a generation ago. That gap didn't appear overnight, and it's not because people stopped working hard. More and more, families are getting outbid by large financial firms buying up single-family homes at scale. In Charlotte, roughly 18 percent of single-family homes and 13 percent of homes in Raleigh were investor-owned as of 2022, a clear example of how quickly institutional buying is reshaping local housing markets, with those numbers continuing to rise. People live in homes, not corporations, and institutional investors shouldn't be locking families out. The Families First Act, which I introduced with Josh Riley, helps ensure federally backed homes go to families first, not Wall Street."

The Families First Housing Act creates a standardized 180-day "first look" period that gives families, nonprofits, local governments, and community land trusts exclusive access to eligible single-family homes owned, foreclosed upon, or under disposition by federal housing entities before institutional investors can purchase them.

The bill also strengthens transparency and accountability by requiring public reporting on home sales, pricing methods, and violations, and authorizes penalties for employees who unlawfully bypass first-look protections.

The Families First Housing Act is an important step toward restoring balance in the housing market, but it is not the end of the work. Congressman Harrigan is calling on his colleagues to build on this framework, work across party lines, and pursue additional reforms that expand access to homeownership and put families back at the center of the housing market.