This is one in a series of reports from States Newsroom on the key policy issues in the presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON — With the cost and supply of housing remaining top issues for voters, both presidential candidates have laid out plans to address the crisis in hopes of winning over voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020 exacerbated problems in the real estate market, with supply chain disruptions, record low interest rates and increased demand contributing to a rise in property prices. according to a study by the Journal of Housing Economics.
While housing construction is typically managed at the local level, housing supply is tight and rents continue to skyrocket, increasing pressure on the federal government to aid. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump agree it’s a problem that needs to be solved, but their solutions differ.
The Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to States Newsroom’s requests for details on the general housing proposals the nominees had discussed.
Promise: millions of novel apartments
Harris’ plan calls for the construction of 3 million homes in four years.
The United States has one Shortage of approximately 3.8 million homes for sale and rentaccording to 2021 estimates from Freddie Mac, which are still relied upon.
Additionally, Homelessness has reached a record high of 653,100 people since January of last year, and according to a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies, “22.4 million renter households spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities,” up from 2 million households since 2019 by Harvard University.
“This is obviously a multi-pronged approach because there are many factors that contribute to high rents and housing affordability and my plan is to try to address many of them at once so that the bottom line is that we can actually reduce costs .” and make homeownership and renting more affordable,” Harris said during an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.
Promise: Zoning for Single-Family Homes
Trump has long opposed multifamily construction, instead supporting single-family zoning that would exclude other types of housing. Such land employ regulation is carried out by local government agencies, not the federal government, although the federal government could influence it.
“Low-income housing developments are not going to be built in areas that are right next to your house,” Trump said during an August rally in Montana. “I will keep criminals out of your neighborhood.”
Promise: Get Congress to approve it
Election forecasters predicted it that Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives but Republicans are close to winning the Senate, meaning any housing proposals must be overwhelmingly bipartisan.
“Without significant revenue increases, how much money will really be available to do all of these things that both Trump and Harris are proposing?” Ted Tozer, a non-resident fellow at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center, said in a statement Interview with States Newsroom. “All the money comes from Congress.”
Many of Harris’ policies rely on cooperation from Congress because the federal government has historically had narrow tools to address the housing crisis.
“There is a hunger on the Democratic side for more action, for more direct government intervention in the housing market than we have seen in a long time,” said Francis Torres, deputy director for housing and infrastructure at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Almost all of the proposals Harris has put forward would require Congress to pass legislation and appropriate funding. The first is p.2224Introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, which would change the US tax code to prohibit private equity firms from purchasing homes in bulk by providing “interest and depreciation deductions for taxpayers who own 50 or more single-family homes.” , will be refused, it says in the draft law.
The second bill, P. 3692Introduced by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, would ban the employ of algorithms to artificially inflate rental costs.
Both bills would need to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance in the Senate, regardless of which party has the majority.
Promise: $25,000 down payment assistance
Harris has pledged to support first-time homebuyers, but Congress would need to provide funding for her proposed $25,000 down payment assistance program, which would benefit an estimated 4 million first-time homebuyers over four years.
It is a proposal that is met with skepticism.
“I’m really worried that the down payment assistance is actually going to put even more pressure on home prices because you’re basically giving people extra money so they can pay more for the house that they’re going to bid on,” Tozer said. “So by definition they get into a bidding war and spend more.”
Harris has also proposed a $40 billion innovation fund for local governments to develop housing solutions, which also requires congressional approval.
Promise: Open up federal states
Both candidates support opening some federal lands to housing, which would mean selling the land for development with a commitment to retaining a certain percentage of the units for affordable housing.
The federal government owns about 650 million hectares of landor about 30% of the entire country.
None of the candidates elaborated on this suggestion.
“I think it’s a sign that at least the Harris campaign and the people around her are thinking about really addressing this issue of housing affordability through stronger government action than has been done in several decades,” Torres said.
Promise: Expand tax credits
The largest tool the federal government has used to combat housing is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, known as LIHTC. Harris has promised to expand that tax credit, but did not elaborate on how much she wants that expansion.
This program provides tax credits to offset construction costs in exchange for a specified number of rent-restricted housing units for low-income households. But the restriction is fleeting, lasts approx. 30 years.
There is no comparable program for housing intended for ownership.
“This is an interesting moment because on the other side, on the Trump side, even though they’ve diagnosed a lot of similar problems, there’s not as much interest in leveraging the strength of the federal government to ensure affordability,” said Torres said.
Trump’s record on housing
The Trump campaign doesn’t have a housing proposal, but various interviews, rallies and a look back at Trump’s first four years in office provide a roadmap.
During Trump’s first term, many of his HUD budget proposals were not approved by Congress.
In all four of the president’s budget requests, he made proposals that would raise rent by 40% for about 4 million low-income households using rental vouchers or those living in public housing, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Think Tank Brookings Institution.
All four of Trump’s budget plans also called for eliminating housing programs such as the Community Development Block Grant, which provides local and state governments with funding to rehabilitate and build affordable housing. Trump’s budget would also have made cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, which is a home energy assistance program for low-income families.
Additionally, there are Trump’s Opportunity Zones, authorized by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which provide tax incentives for businesses and real estate to invest in low-income communities. have had mixed results.
Promise: Reduce regulations and introduce tariffs
In an interview with Bloomberg, Trump said he wanted to focus on reducing regulations in the approval process.
“Your approvals, your approval process. Your zoning if – and I’ve been through years of zoning. The zoning is like…it’s a killer,” he said. “But we will do this and bring down property prices.”
Trump has often said at campaign rallies that he would impose a blanket 10% tariff on all goods entering the United States. He has also proposed 60% tariffs against China.
Trump spoke out about the tariff at a rally in Georgia is “one of the most beautiful words I have ever heard.”
Tozer said imposing trade policies such as tariffs on building materials like lumber would drive up the cost of homes.
Promise: deport immigrants
Trump has argued that his plan for mass deportations will aid free up the supply of housing. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, told the New York Times that deporting immigrants would lower housing costs because migration “drives up housing costs.”
The former president did it a central campaign promise to deport millions of immigrants.
Tozer said housing and immigration are closely linked because the ability to build homes depends on workers, and About 30% of construction workers are immigrants.
“By closing the border, you may be limiting your ability to build these homes,” he said, adding that all of these measures are linked.
