If anyone thinks that the Biden campaign is not currently gasping for air, look no further than the panic button it’s hitting because of swing state voters’ frustration with housing inflation. The CPAC Foundation’s Center for Regulatory Freedom recently explained that swing state voters (including Democrats) are complaining mightily about the soaring cost of rent in their states, and they’re blaming the Biden administration for it. The Biden administration knows it, so it’s now acting like a schoolyard bully by trying to pin the blame on others.
Currently, it’s trying to frame the algorithmic software that some landlords use to obtain rough pricing estimates as the big bad wolves. The administration says they’re breaking antitrust laws (since when has using predictive software violated antitrust laws?), and the Justice Department has even opened a probe.
Concurrently, some of the most liberal members of the United States Senate, led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), have banded together to give the administration political cover by introducing legislation to outlaw the use of algorithmic software in the housing rental market. Their legislation, called the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, has eight Democratic co-sponsors, including Senators Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Richard Blumenthal.
Scapegoating is, of course, a politician’s best friend. It creates sensational headlines and leaves ordinary folks with the impression that something is being done to cure society’s ills. But renters won’t win if the government takes a 2×4 to the private sector’s operating procedures in this industry when the Biden administration (and larger federal and state governments) crushing free-market innovation in this industry is what has always been the problem.
As we all know, the real culprit behind soaring rent prices in specific markets is the government itself and the unfortunate regulatory environment most property owners face. A combination of factors, including inflation, high mortgage rates, supply shortages, zoning restrictions, property taxes, and strict building codes, to name a few, contribute to the increase in rents.
We never had this problem under President Trump’s leadership, when interest rates reached historic lows, and the low cost of building and permitting allowed countless Americans to move into home ownership for the first time. Now, they find themselves barely able to afford rent payments. Shouldn’t this sharp contrast in regulatory approaches and results tell the administration everything it needs to know about what must be done?
It should, but at this stage of the election, where the president can barely string two sentences together and is being widely perceived across party lines as no longer being with it, the name of the game is political survival, not political solutions. That means denying all shortcomings and coming up with excuses. That means doing whatever it takes to win President Biden’s last election, even if it means the administration routinely lying through its teeth.
I’m skeptical that it will work. Polling indicates that voters nationwide aren’t buying what the president and his spin doctors are selling — not by a long shot. They’re tired of the administration’s constant strings of rhetorical excuses and hungry for results. We’ll see what happens come November.
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