Committee declines to advance bill limiting corporate ownership of single‑family homes
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Summary
A pared‑down version of a bill to cap corporate and private‑equity ownership of single‑family homes and to prohibit private‑equity ownership above a 50‑home threshold failed to advance from the committee after member questions about enforcement, divestiture and market effects; the motion failed 7–6 on roll call.
House File 2687 — a bill that would bar private‑equity corporations from owning more than 50 single‑family homes in Minnesota and would assign enforcement to the attorney general — was brought before the House Finance and Policy Committee but did not advance.
The sponsor summarized a narrowed bill that removed an immediate divestiture schedule and would apply enforcement prospectively, with violations pursued by the attorney general’s office. Sponsor remarks noted bipartisan interest in the senate and said a divestiture schedule could be developed in subsequent committee work.
Members raised questions about exceptions for mortgage note holders, how foreclosure or secondary mortgage transactions would interact with the ownership cap, and whether the Department of Commerce would be better positioned to enforce the law than the attorney general. The sponsor said the AG was selected because of prior experience prosecuting problematic large owners.
Several members said they remained unconvinced that a cap was the right market intervention. Representative Nash described himself as a free‑market skeptic of the approach and said he would vote no; other members voiced procedural and substantive concerns but acknowledged the sponsor’s work to narrow the bill.
The committee proceeded to a roll call; the clerk recorded seven ayes and six nays and the chair announced the motion did not prevail. The bill will not advance from this committee in its current form.