Is Trump’s Pledge to Rein in Private Equity for Real?

US Bancorp tower (Big Pink), Portland. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

While Donald Trump has often derided the political focus on affordability – even calling it a “con job” — his administration has been trying to capitalize on the theme, most recently by announcing a plan to bar institutional investors from owning single family homes. This is an unusual policy for a Republican administration – especially one that has been so closely tied to an industry that it now says it wants to constrain.