Democrats counter Trump's proposal to limit institutional housing investors

A new bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren targets investors who own 50-plus single-family homes, and breaks with a White House proposal.

Both congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump both want to limit how many homes major corporations can own, but a new proposal from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., makes it clear that's where the agreement ends.

In a bill released hours before Trump's State of the Union speech, Warren, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and 16 other Senate Democrats propose ending some housing-related tax benefits for major corporations. The bill would prevent companies with more than 50 single-family homes for rent from taking deductions for housing value depreciation and mortgage interest payments. Corporations would also be barred from getting federally backed mortgages.

The bill would provide a temporary carve-out for companies building new multifamily housing or rehabilitating properties that would otherwise be uninhabitable.