Lower Rent

The rent is too damn high!  And Alan Grayson will change that.  We have to change that, if the cost of living is going to be livable.

Here’s the problem:  the average rent in Orange County is now $1820.  And average pay, if you work full-time at the minimum wage, is $1700.

How is that supposed to work?

In 1969, the Federal Government passed a law that caps federal housing rent at 25% of income.  Today, the Government says that if you pay more than 30%, you may “have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.”  Uh, yeah.  So how is 100% supposed to work?

To make things even worse, Florida has had the highest rent increased in the U.S., during the past two years.

So what are we going to do about it?  Here’s what we are going to do: 

  1. Rent must be tax-deductible.  Homeowners get to “write off” 90% of the cost of home ownership on their taxes: mortgage interest and property tax.  That saves homeowners $100,000,000,000+ every year.  Why not rent, too?  Today’s system is discrimination, discrimination against renters, and Alan Grayson will end it.
  2. Alan Grayson will work with the Orange County Commission to institute rent control, jumping through all of the hoops that the Florida Legislature has set.  Grayson will urge the County not only to cap rent hikes, but to roll them back – back at least to where they were last year.  And then Grayson will mobilize public support – your support – in the required referendum, and work to beat back the inevitable challenge in court. 
  3. The County has received a windfall from the rising housing tax base.  For renters, Alan Grayson will mobilize support for the County to return part of that – not to the landlords, but directly to the renters, through rent rebates.
  4. The Federal Government heavily subsidizes virtually every home mortgage, through “Fannie Mae,” “Freddie Mac,” the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration.  Alan Grayson – who passed more laws than any other Member of Congress — will return to the House Banking Committee, to ensure that rental property have equal treatment (meaning borrowing at federal interest rates) if landlords commit to affordable housing.