Vice President Kamala Harris released several proposals last week to lower housing costs for Americans if she is elected. During a speech in North Carolina on Friday, Harris outlined her plans to build three million new housing units, increase tax incentives for developers who build affordable rental housing, encourage home construction for first-time buyers and give first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment.
“As president, I will work in partnership with industry to create the housing we need, both to rent and to buy. We will remove barriers and eliminate red tape, including at the state and local levels,” Harris said.
“And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing crisis by building three million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class, and we will do it together.”
As part of the plan, the Harris-Waltz administration will focus on accelerating the creation of new housing to address the current housing shortage that has led to rising rents and mortgage prices.
Harris said her administration would expand existing tax incentives to encourage developers to build affordable rental housing and create a new $40 billion innovation fund, doubling the one proposed by the Biden-Harris administration.
The federal fund would provide municipalities with the financial resources they need to find housing solutions. The fund would go beyond traditional housing projects by providing various types of construction financing and enabling developers and builders to design and build innovative, affordable rental housing.
For the first time, the government wants to propose tax incentives for developers who build single-family homes and sell them to first-time buyers.
The plan also includes a $25,000 down payment for first-time buyers who have paid their rent on time for at least two years, including first-generation homeowners.
The Biden-Harris administration originally proposed these funds specifically for 400,000 first-time homebuyers, along with a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. However, the expanded plan offers $25,000 to all eligible first-time homebuyers.
“We also know that as home prices have risen, so have down payments,” Harris said. “Even if prospective homeowners save for years, it’s often still not enough.”
“So while we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide an additional $25,000 to first-time buyers to help them with the down payment on a new home.”
The vice president said she will continue the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to reduce red tape and remove bureaucratic hurdles that often delay housing projects. This includes streamlining permitting processes and speeding up reviews so developers can get homes to market faster and reduce costs.
Harris is also calling on Congress to pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act, a bill that would eliminate certain tax breaks that reward large investors who buy up large numbers of single-family homes for rental purposes.
The Vice President is calling for Congress to pass legislation to prevent algorithmic promotion of rental housing cartels, a law that would crack down on commercial landlords across the country who are drastically driving up rents using private equity-backed price-fixing tools.
In addition, Harris has seized on a proposal from President Joe Biden to cap rent increases on apartments owned by corporate landlords at 5 percent per year. The plan would apply to landlords who have more than 50 units in their portfolio, affecting about 20 million units nationwide, or half of all rentals. The proposal marks the first time since the 1970s that a sitting president has supported rent control.
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