Latest Releases
U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Cynthia Lummis Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Prospective Homebuyers from Predatory Financing Agreements
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Preserving Pathways to Homeownership Act, bipartisan legislation to establish basic protections for consumers who seek to purchase a home using a land contract, or contract for deed. Land contracts are an alternative form of seller financing for real estate transactions, often marketed as a way for people who can’t get a conventional mortgage to realize the dream of owning a home. However, land contracts can lack many of the consumer protections available in mortgage lending: full disclosure of costs and fees, protections if a homeowner misses payments or falls on hard times, and protections in the case of fraud. Unscrupulous sellers have used these arrangements to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers. They design the land contract to fail and move to evict when the buyer inevitably breaches it. Buyers typically lose their home and everything they’ve invested in it, and the seller can repeat this process with other buyers. It is estimated that across the country, more than 8 million homes have been sold with land contracts, underscoring the widespread nature of this issue. “Without a safe, decent place to call home, nothing in your life works – not your job, your health, your education, or your family. It is appalling that some Minnesota families trying to pursue the dream of home ownership, who are struggling to receive traditional mortgages, whether due to their credit rating, or because the tenets of their faith preclude them from paying and profiting off
The Affordable Housing and Homeownership Protection Act Would Tackle Housing Crisis by Creating Millions More Homes and Helping Main Street Compete with Wall Street
WASHINGTON, DC – As the nation’s housing shortage pushes home prices and rents to historic levels, a new Senate bill would provide tens of billions of dollars to help create millions of new homes for low-income Americans. U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI)and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) are teaming up with several colleagues to introduce the Affordable Housing and Homeownership Protection Act (S. 3673). This bill would generate up to $50 billion over ten years to help build and preserve approximately 3 million affordable housing units nationwide. The bill would be fully paid for through a transfer tax on large investors who profit by purchasing sixteen single-family homes or more. Driven by a shortage of as many as 6.8 million homes nationwide, homes prices have surged 39% and rents 31% over the last four years, according to the National Association of Realtors and Zillow. Higher rents and fewer opportunities for homeownership are devastating for millions of families. As housing costs skyrocket, more households are priced out of homeownership, while renters have less to spend on food, clothing, and other everyday necessities. Low-income Americans are particularly strained – the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates 73% of extremely low-income households spend more than half their income on housing. Unsurprisingly, homelessness has risen in line with housing prices and is up 15% since 2019. Unfortunately, federal investments in low-income housing are insufficient to solve this affordability crisis. Indeed, researchers at Harvard University found that the three largest federal housing programs serve nearly
Klobuchar, Smith, Stauber Announce $500K USDA Grant to Expand Education Opportunities in Northeastern Minnesota
WASHINGTON, D.C. [11/21/19]—U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Representative Pete Stauber (R-MN-08) announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Education Innovation Partners Cooperative Center a $500,000 grant to connect students living in rural settings with telecommunication and internet capabilities that could help them learn. Long distance learning services help students overcome challenges they might face due to their remote location and low population density. This project will provide services to 28 sites across six counties. It’s estimated to benefit 21,000 students and 1,500 teachers per year. “Investments in education and health care are
U.S. Senators Smith & Barrasso Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Recruit and Retain Rural Health Care Providers
WASHINGTON D.C. [11/21/2019]—Today, on National Rural Health Day, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)—both co-chairs of the Senate Rural Health Caucus—announced their bipartisan bill to address the disparity in access to health care in rural America by supporting key rural health workforce programs. Right now, rural America is struggling to recruit and retain the health care providers they need to support their communities. Geographic isolation and scarce housing options create challenges for rural health care providers to attract primary and specialty care physicians, nurses, technicians, ambulance drivers, and case managers. Even when providers move to rural communities,
Klobuchar, Smith, Emmer Announce $200K USDA Grant To Improve Rural Health Care in Central Minnesota
WASHINGTON, D.C. [11/21/19]—U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (D-Minn) and Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN-06), announced that the USDA has awarded CentraCare Health System a $234,648 grant to expand telehealth services across central Minnesota. This project will help improve access to critical medical services by placing video equipment at ten clinics across nine counties. It is estimated to help an additional 2,000 patients over a two-year project period. “Investments in education and health care are essential to improving communities across our state,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “This funding will help CentraCare address physician shortages in rural areas by establishing greater access to care through telemedicine
U.S. Senator Tina Smith & Senate Indian Affairs Committee Advance Bills to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis
U.S. Senator Tina Smith & Senate Indian Affairs Committee Advance Bills to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act to Address the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Headed to Senate Floor After Committee Vote WASHINGTON, D.C. [11/21/2019]—U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today that a key Senate panel has approved two measures this week that will improve the federal government’s response to the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) crisis. She said the two bills passed by the Indian Affairs Committee—Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act—would increase coordination with law enforcement,
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