Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a homebuilder from Wichita, Kansas, issued the following statement on Vice President Kamala Harris’ housing plan, announced today during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina:

“NAHB commends Vice President Harris for making housing and homeownership a central part of her economic agenda. We are pleased that the foundation of her plan is building 3 million new housing units, because the most important way to address the nation’s housing crisis is to increase the nation’s housing supply.

“A tax credit to help builders build more entry-level housing and expanding and strengthening the low-income tax credit will help builders build much-needed new homes and apartments. But any tax incentive to support entry-level housing construction must be targeted to local market conditions and widely available. A $10,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and a $25,000 down payment are positive demand incentives, but the plan must focus more on increasing supply as the country faces a deficit of about 1.5 million housing units.

“Unfortunately, the plan makes no mention of reducing burdensome federal regulations that increase the cost burden of building single-family homes by 24% or the cost increase of building multifamily homes by nearly 41%. In addition, following President Biden’s rent cap proposal, NAHB is concerned that efforts to target institutional investors will harm the growing single-family rental market, particularly those built for the rental market, further discouraging housing construction that is otherwise desperately needed.

“NAHB’s 10-point plan to alleviate America’s housing affordability challenges focuses on removing the barriers that prevent builders from increasing the nation’s housing supply. This includes, among other things, eliminating excessive regulations, repairing building materials supply chains, and enacting reasonable and cost-effective building codes. Addressing these concerns would help the Vice President achieve her goal of building 3 million new housing units.

“NAHB looks forward to working with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at all levels of government to implement policies that will enable builders to increase housing construction and give more hardworking families the opportunity to own or rent homes.”