# What the HOME Act of 2025 Actually Does

The HOME Act is designed to crack down on what lawmakers see as excessive price increases for housing during times of crisis. When the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development declares that the country is experiencing an affordable housing crisis, this law would make it illegal for landlords and home sellers to charge "unconscionably excessive" prices that appear to exploit the situation. Think of it like price-gouging laws that apply during hurricanes or other emergencies—except this one targets housing.

Here's how it would work in practice: Once HUD declares a housing crisis (which could last up to 30 days but can be renewed), landlords and sellers would be prohibited from dramatically raising prices compared to what they were charging before the crisis or compared to similar properties in the area. If a landlord was renting an apartment for $1,500 a month and suddenly tried to charge $3,000 during a crisis period, that could potentially violate this law. However, there's an important escape hatch: sellers and landlords can defend themselves by showing that price increases actually reflect real additional costs they incurred or risks they took. So if a landlord had to make expensive emergency repairs, they could justify a price increase.

The bill also creates new enforcement mechanisms and monitoring systems. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would get new powers to investigate and penalize violators, and state attorneys general could also sue on behalf of their residents. The law establishes a new "Housing Monitoring and Enforcement Unit" within HUD to continuously track rental and home sale prices, looking for signs of market manipulation or unfair practices. Additionally, the bill requires HUD to investigate whether large institutional investors are buying up too much single-family housing in local markets—specifically flagging situations where one buyer purchases more than 5 percent of homes in an area over three years, or when institutional investors collectively buy more than 25 percent in a year.

Money collected from penalties would go into the Housing Trust Fund to help build affordable housing for low-income families. The bill also directs federal agencies to study unfair tenant screening practices and review anti-competitive behavior in housing markets. Importantly, this law doesn't prevent states from having their own price-gouging protections, and it doesn't apply to futures markets or financial derivatives. The core idea is to prevent what supporters see as exploitation during housing emergencies while allowing legitimate price adjustments for real costs.