Vice President Kamala Harris made the housing market a central issue in her first major policy speech as the Democratic presidential nominee.
A bold plan: Harris unveiled her economic agenda on Friday, highlighting a plan to build 3 million new homes over four years, targeting the barriers that hinder new construction at state and local levels. It’s a YIMBY-friendly push to stabilize prices and improve affordability by increasing supply.
What they say: Housing policy experts agree that boosting housing supply is crucial to solving the market’s affordability issues. Jung Hyun Choi from the Urban Institute noted that the lack of supply is “the root cause of the current problem,” making Harris’s focus on construction a vital part of the solution.
Spurring development: Harris’s plan includes offering the first-ever federal tax incentive for builders of starter homes and creating a $40B fund to encourage local construction. Additionally, she proposes repurposing federal lands for affordable housing, expanding on ideas from previous administrations. Harris also proposes a $25k down-payment assistance program for new homeowners.
Rent hikes: Harris also called for legislation to prevent multifamily landlords from using algorithmic systems to raise rents. The proposed bill, introduced earlier this year, addresses concerns that property management software enables landlords to coordinate price hikes, effectively creating rental cartels.
Harris vs. Wall Street: In addition, Harris is backing the “Stop Predatory Investing Act,” which would remove tax benefits for large-scale investors in single-family rental homes. This aligns with previous legislative efforts, such as the “Stop Wall Street Landlords Act of 2022,” which aimed to impose taxes on institutional investors.
A bigger problem: However, housing experts like NAHB chairman Carl Harris worry that targeting institutional investors, especially after Biden’s rent cap proposal, could harm the single-family rental market. This could further discourage much-needed housing production
➥ THE TAKEAWAY
Why it matters: Despite lingering doubts about some aspects of Harris’ proposal, building more affordable homes is key to solving the housing crisis. While Wall Street’s role in rentals has pros and cons, experts agree that increasing supply is the real game-changer, giving young Americans a fair shot at homeownership and housing security where jobs are.
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