State cash for illegal aliens as homeless vets are left in the cold



In recent weeks, the federal government has been criticized for allocating FEMA money to illegal aliens seeking shelter rather than saving it for Americans displaced by hurricanes. But Michiganders should know that their state government is doing the same thing.

The Michigan “Newcomer Rental Subsidy” gives Michigan taxpayers’ money to aliens to help pay for housing while Michiganders — like many Americans — struggle to pay for basic necessities such as groceries, housing, and gas.

Michigan should prioritize housing subsidies for US citizens first. Illegal aliens shouldn’t get housing subsidies at all.

The subsidy offers rental assistance of up to $500 per month for up to a year to immigrants, including illegal aliens.

The Office of Global Michigan defends this program, stating that “many refugees and other newcomers face critical housing challenges, and this program will increase access to better and more affordable housing opportunities.” While that may be true, thousands of Michiganders also face the same challenges. Who is helping them?

The homeless population in Michigan in 2024 is over 8,000 people, approximately 500 of whom are veterans. Yet homeless Michigan residents are not eligible for this rental subsidy. Yes, Michigan does have a program that provides “short-term residential care and treatment to eligible veterans,” but that program could be improved and expanded if the Newcomer Rental Subsidy wasn’t pulling precious time and resources away from citizens of Michigan who desperately need them.

It isn’t just the homeless who can’t find housing, either. The average cost of rent in Michigan has risen from $1,150 per month in 2020 to over$1,400 per month in 2024. The cost of homes has also increased exponentially over the last four years. In 2020, homes on average cost around $180,000 in Michigan, and in 2024 homes on average cost nearly $250,000. In a time of record inflation due to the devastating policies and spending of the Biden-Harris administration, Michigan is diverting its limited funds to provide relief for noncitizens before its own citizens.

However, even those sympathetic to refugees should remember that aliens with far less lawful immigration status than foreign nationals granted refugee protection are eligible for the rental subsidy. For example, aliens with a pending asylum application may apply for a housing subsidy.

Unfortunately, aliens frequently submit fraudulent asylum applications because they are free. Submitting provides them with other benefits, including a work authorization document and years living in the United States because of millions of backlogged cases in the immigration courts and at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Allowing mere asylum applicants, rather than requiring an alien to have been granted asylum beforehand, to receive this benefit is a clear waste of Michigan and U.S. taxpayer money.

Michigan also provides the housing subsidy to aliens the Biden-Harris administration unlawfully and unconstitutionally mass-paroled into the U.S. through defrauded programs. For example, USCIS found in a recent internal report that the administration approved thousands of parole sponsors in the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole programs without adequate vetting. This resulted in thousands of applications having fake Social Security numbers and nearly 20,000 applications having the same 100 physical addresses listed, among many other problems.

Michigan should prioritize housing subsidies for U.S. citizens first, then entirely lawful immigrants second. Illegal aliens shouldn’t be receiving housing subsidies at all.

At a time when Americans face record inflation and struggle to pay for housing and put food on the table, it is time for Michigan to stop putting noncitizens first.

America’s housing crisis needs real answers, not Biden’s scapegoating



The economic law of supply and demand dictates that if the supply of goods or services outpaces demand, prices fall. Most politicians understand this and commonly invoke that law in response to public discontent about high consumer costs.

When it comes to housing, however, leading Democrats are offering lip service to supply, while simultaneously engaging in counterproductive schemes to deflect responsibility for rising costs.

Instead of addressing the true sources of inflation and economic instability, the administration’s go-to response is to take cheap shots at the private sector.

Addressing the national housing shortage will require an estimated 1.7 million new homes each year, on average, until 2030. As its response to this crisis, the Biden-Harris administration has chosen a desperate, partisan approach by scapegoating private-sector technology through litigation.

The Department of Justice is suing rental industry software company RealPage Inc., alleging it played a role in raising rents for apartments and multifamily dwellings. Blaming a single data analytics company for the nationwide housing shortage and inflationary pressures may seem bizarre — and it is. We need real solutions.

What is RealPage? In addition to providing property management tools like IT support platforms and renter verification systems, RealPage offers assessments of rental asset metrics such as vacancy rates, leasing term trends, projected occupancy, and anticipated consumer demand.

Property managers need quick analysis to set prices appropriately within the market. Setting prices too low risks financial disaster by failing to capture fair market value in a market with razor-thin margins. Setting them too high, however, discourages consumers, leading to empty units and daily losses.

Without evidence from the Justice Department showing where rents have risen excessively, the claims of market power against RealPage appear dubious at best. Leasing companies with about 3 million units nationwide use RealPage’s market price assessment tools. If the government’s accusation held merit, it could point to plenty of examples to support the charge.

Unwarranted attacks on data analytics tools represent the latest effort by a Biden-Harris administration that frequently makes baseless claims of misconduct across industries struggling to survive under the challenging economic conditions this administration has created.

Last year, for example, the Justice Department sued to block JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines. Biden-Harris central planners attempted to dictate travelers’ options while fostering an environment that stifles innovation and limits airlines’ ability to reduce fares.

In another troubling example, the Biden-Harris administration targeted the grocery sector. When Kroger sought to acquire Albertsons, the Federal Trade Commission quickly challenged the acquisition, citing unfounded competition concerns and potential price hikes. This stance ignores the steep price increases driven by administrative policies and unchecked government spending, which have cost taxpayers over $2 trillion.

Instead of addressing the true sources of inflation and economic instability, the administration’s go-to response is to take cheap shots at the private sector — companies that aim to innovate and create market efficiencies that benefit consumers.

Improving the housing market starts with lawmakers overhauling the nation’s notoriously burdensome construction codes and regulations. Rising material costs due to tariffs, lengthy permitting processes, construction workforce shortages, restrictive zoning laws, and environmental requirements all create cost pressures that discourage building the new housing America desperately needs.

Since returning to my native Arizona several years ago, I’ve seen firsthand the influx of people moving here, naturally driving up rents. Unfortunately, under our Democratic attorney general, state officials have joined the Biden-Harris administration in ignoring the real causes of rising market costs, previously filing their own lawsuit against RealPage. After 20 years of Republican leadership that made Arizona attractive to newcomers, Democratic leaders now regrettably pursue a misguided path that stifles innovation.

To address housing affordability, we must tackle supply shortages and inflationary pressures. Instead, the federal government under Biden and Harris has chosen to scapegoat a software company and mislead consumers about how the housing market works. Americans shouldn’t fall for such false narratives.

Medicaid can now cover rent, utilities, and food under Biden administration's new social health 'Playbook'



The Biden administration's Medicaid guidelines have expanded to allow states to use part of their budget to provide rental assistance or money for utilities to recipients.

The new guidelines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services advise that states can devote more than 3% of their Medicaid spending to experimental subsidies, so long as they add in their own funding and evaluate the outcomes.

The new CMS guidelines under the Biden White House have stated that any service a state chooses to include must simply be based on evidence that proves it makes a difference, the Washington Post noted.

Much of the guidance comes out of the Biden administration's U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health, which lists housing security, food security, education access, and "healthy environment" as the top causes for inequal outcomes.

So far, Arizona and Oregon are the inaugural states to start using the new guidelines and will reportedly target homeless people, those who are at risk of losing their housing, and the mentally ill.

The Daily Mail reported that rental assistance programs will come in the form of one-time payments for security deposits or money to pay for rent and utilities for more than six months.

Arizona will allegedly spend more than $550 million of its Medicaid funding on the experimental program.

Arizona's program will also reportedly include housing vouchers, which can cover between 70% and 100% of an eligible person's rent, depending on income.

Oregon will spend a reported $1 billion on its housing assistance program. Those with a behavioral health crisis, with a long-term health condition, or who are pregnant will reportedly qualify.

As well, those who are at risk of becoming homeless may be eligible.

"Clearly, nobody is saying that Medicaid is here to solve all housing and nutritional needs in the country, nor are we here to take over other agencies," said Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai. "Does Medicaid have a role in social needs? The answer is yes. … It’s exciting. It’s groundbreaking. It is not an open check."

The U.S. Playbook, released in November 2023, stated that it has a "commitment to advancing health equity, expanding health coverage, and improving health outcomes."

The document claimed that health disparities have arisen over time due to "structural inequities" that often disproportionately impact "historically underserved individuals." The government's lengthy list of underserved people included blacks, Latinos, native Americans, "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color," transgenders, and "queer (LGBTQ+) persons."

This was in addition to people with disabilities, seniors, women, the homeless, and those who live in rural areas. However, the document also added the category of those who "live in communities with environmental justice concerns."

The federal government also promoted the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which declared housing to be a right, not a privilege, and is "guided by its commitment to racial equity."

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'Housing cartel' landlords accused of price-fixing rent rates using automated software to maximize rental profits



Dozens of landlords are accused of price-fixing their rent rates through the use of the online software RealPage, a group of tenants alleged.

RealPage is a property management software that uses data to recommend pricing on millions of properties in the United States.

Tenants in Jersey City, New Jersey, have taken RealPage and 34 landlords to court in a class-action lawsuit regarding rent prices for a 527-unit building. The popular water-adjacent properties are located approximately 20 minutes from the World Trade Center.

Separately, the Department of Justice has also filed a statement of interest that alleges landlords shared non-public information with RealPage, including vacancy data, and relied on that information to inflate rental prices.

The automations must be "subject to the same condemnation" as price-fixing schemes, the DOJ said. "Long-standing legal principles apply with equal force to this new machinery," the department added, according to Reuters.

In November 2023, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., submitted a different complaint against RealPage and 14 other landlords.

These were not typical landlords. They operate more than a whopping 50,000 rental units in D.C. With that many units entered into an automated system, that can mean thousands of tenants simultaneously have their rent increased should the landlord choose to follow the recommendations.

"Effectively, RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel," Attorney General of the District of Columbia Brian Schwalb reportedly said. "Rather than making independent decisions on what the market here in D.C. calls for in terms of filling vacant units, landlords are compelled, under the terms of their agreement with RealPage, to charge what RealPage tells them," he continued.

"Defendants’ coordinated and anticompetitive conduct amounted to a district-wide housing cartel," Schwalb added.

Particularly, one of the tools used on the website is called YieldStar, which balances lease lengths, occupancy, and pricing data to optimize revenue.

"Just turning the system on will outperform your manual analyst. There’s almost no way it can’t," said Jeffrey Roper, a former RealPage employee and inventor of YieldStar.

RealPage told CNBC that its revenue management products use anonymized, aggregated data to deliver the pricing recommendations and can increase a landlord's revenue between 2% and 7%. The company also told the outlet, however, that customers are not obligated to take its price suggestions.

The company was acquired by firm Thoma Bravo in 2021 for $10.2 billion; however, the parent company has reportedly claimed it is not liable for RealPage's alleged actions.

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How Pandemic-Era ‘Stimulus’ Screwed Americans While Boosting The Rich

We may seriously begin to ask if leftwing America is a massive oligarchy cloaked in identity politics.

I Couldn’t Wait To Live In D.C., But Now I’m Happily Paying Less Rent For More Freedom And Safety

More than a year after unscientific lockdowns and a summer of unrest shuttered D.C., I'm thanking my stars I dodged signing a lease.

Andy Richter inadvertently exposes problem with the eviction moratorium as his son hunts for new apartment



Comedian Andy Richter, known for his role as Conan O'Brien's sidekick, has inadvertently exposed the unintended consequences of the controversial eviction moratorium.

What did Richter say?

Writing on Twitter, Richter said his son is searching for a studio apartment in southern California. According to Richter, the landlord of one perspective apartment requested six months of rent up front — in addition to advanced payments of the first and last month's rent.

"My son is looking for a studio apartment around USC, and one that he applied for a couple days ago told us that the owner wanted 6 months rent up front (after he and I both paid app fees)," Richter explained.

"No wonder people f***ing hate landlords and the management companies that facilitate them," he complained. "Oh, and that's in addition to first and last month's rent for deposit."

After noticing that his initial tweet was generating criticism, Richter lamented that he did not understand why his economic position meant he could not "point out when something is unfair."

"I'm a feminist male. Do you really not want me to criticize sexism? I'm for racial equality. Does my whiteness mean I can't speak out against racism? It's puzzling why people with whom I largely agree want me to stfu about income equality, exploitation of the poor, etc," Richter said.

"I can understand that it bugs someone that my kid goes to an expensive school and that I can afford to help him with an apartment. Truly. But I don't get why you'd want me to shut up about having an experience with landlord greed. Doesn't me shutting up just serve the landlords?" he added.

What was the reaction?

Richter was quickly informed that his reaction had exposed one of the key problems with the eviction moratorium.

Specifically, critics explained that weary landlords are now more reluctant to rent their properties without stipulations that ensure their financial protection, such as requiring more money up front.

  • "Crazy stuff Andy. Turns out there are serious consequences when the government tells property owners that they aren't allowed to evict tenants who don't pay their rent. Who could have ever predicted this except any adult with a functioning brain?" Matt Walsh responded.
  • "If you can't evict people for failing to pay, more landlords will want the money upfront," Robby Soave, senior editor at Reason, pointed out.
  • "Alexa, what is the obvious consequence of a nationwide eviction moratorium?" National Review's Charles Cooke mocked.
  • "Gee, I wonder if there was some reason that landlords might be worried that their tenants might suddenly stop paying rent and try to protect themselves against it.Send your thank you note to 1600 Pennsylvania, Andy," Noam Blum said.
  • "This is, in fact, a predictable unintended consequence of long-running government restrictions on evictions. Landlords, by & large, weren't doing this before the moratoriums. They respond to government incentives like anybody else in the economy," National Review writer Dan McLaughlin reacted.
  • "Hey, after the last year or so of not getting paid *at all* yet still having to shell out for the mortgage and maintenance and all of that, I can quite comfortably say I'd probably put some pretty heavy requirements on the people I rented to as well," one person said.
  • "That's because of the eviction moratorium. If landlords know they can't evict tenants for failure to pay, they have to require more money up-front. Actions have consequences," another person explained.

The Supreme Court ruled this week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's extension of the eviction moratorium was not legal.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley demands 'cancel the rent' — but discloses thousands in rental income during pandemic



Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a member of "The Squad," is a vocal advocate of "canceling" rent debts for Americans who fell behind on their rental payments during the pandemic.

But new financial disclosures reveal that Pressley had no problem accepting rent from tenants last year.

What is the background?

Throughout the pandemic, Pressley has led an effort to "cancel" rent. She claims that canceling rent and preventing evictions are "a matter of public health."

Pressley has even co-introduced legislation — the "Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act" — to "institute a nationwide cancellation of rents and primary home mortgage payments through the duration of the coronavirus pandemic."

The bill is true progressive dream. Not only does the bill advocate "a full payment forgiveness, retroactive starting April 2020, with no accumulation of debt for renters or homeowners and no negative impact on their credit rating or rental history," but the bill would also "establish a relief fund for landlords and lenders to cover losses from the cancelled payments."

Pressley's legislation, which she drafted alongside Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), would provide relief to renters and mortgage-carriers with no strings attached. For landlords and lenders, however, the bill would only provide the relief it promised "so long as they agree to abide by a set of fair renting and lending practices for five years."

But Pressley owns a rental property?

That's right.

According to financial disclosures filed last week, Pressley reported thousands of dollars worth of rental income from 2020.

Fox News reported:

Pressley's 2020 financial disclosure, filed on Friday, disclosed between $5,000 and $15,000 in rental income from a Boston property in her husband's name. The property was converted into a multi-family apartment after it was purchased, according to Pressley's disclosure. ...

She disclosed the same range of rental income – between $5,000 and $15,000 – in 2020 as she did in 2019, before the pandemic began.

Previously, it was unknown whether Pressley collected income on her rental properties during the pandemic because she called rent cancellation "literally a matter of life and death" in December. The financial disclosure proves her rhetoric was incongruent with her actions.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported that Pressley and her husband own a multi-unit Boston-area home, which they purchased for more than $600,000 in 2019. The property rents for more than $2,000 per month, according to the Free Beacon.

Kavanaugh Breaks With SCOTUS Conservatives To Uphold CDC’s Eviction Ban That Denies Landlords Property Rights

The eviction moratorium is costing landlords $13 billion a month, according to the emergency application filed by the Alabama Association of Realtors.

Taxpayers will bail out California renters who lapsed on bills during pandemic — to the tune of billions



Taxpayers are bailing out California residents who could not — or did not — pay rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the background?

When state officials implemented strict lockdown measures as the COVID-19 began in the spring 2020, the dominos began falling. People could not work, which meant they couldn't pay their bills.

To alleviate financial burdens, states enacted eviction moratoriums that permitted tenants to remain in their rental homes and apartments despite being unable to pay rent. But this triggered an even bigger issue: What about landlords who depend on their rental properties to generate revenue in order for them to make ends meet?

What is California doing?

California will use billions of dollars in federal money to finance past-due rent payments for Californians who have fallen behind on their rent payments, thereby providing relief for tenets while helping landlords break even, the Associated Press reported.

The AP explained:

California has $5.2 billion to pay off people's rent, money from multiple aid packages approved by Congress. That appears to be more than enough to cover all of the unpaid rent in the state, according to Jason Elliott, senior counselor to Newsom on housing and homelessness.

But the state has been slow to distribute that money, and it's unlikely it can spend it all by June 30. A report from the California Department Housing and Community Development showed that of the $490 million in requests for rental assistance through May 31, just $32 million has been paid. That doesn't include the 12 cities and 10 counties that run their own rental assistance programs.

California received $2.6 billion for the effort in the second COVID-related stimulus in December, and another $2.6 billion in the third stimulus passed this year, KQED-TV reported.

But California officials don't plan to stop there.

Elliott told KQED that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) also wants to finance past-due utility bills, which would cost at least $2 billion.

"Our most important priority is making sure the significant amount of federal rental assistance we have gets into the pockets of people who are entitled to it, and who need it," Elliott said. "We need to increase the amount of money we're making available to individual renters and landlords."

What about the eviction moratorium?

The federal eviction moratorium is slated to end June 30, as is California's eviction moratorium.

While it's not clear whether federal officials will further extend the policy — despite pressure from progressive lawmakers — California will "likely" extend theirs, the AP noted, but there are disagreements on how long it should last.

Part of the motivation for extending the moratorium? To spend those federal dollars. "An extension of the eviction ban seems likely to give California more time to spend all the money to cover unpaid rent," the AP reported.