Vice President Kamala Harris called for the construction of 3 million new homes that are affordable to middle-income families.
During a campaign speech in battleground North Carolina on Friday, the presidential candidate also said her administration would boost first-time home buyers with $25,000 to help with a down payment on a new home.
The housing proposals were part of a broader economic plan that she has begun to unveil in the days before the Democratic National Convention.
A defining goal of her presidency, Harris said, would be building up the middle class. In the weeks ahead, she said, she will provide more details on how she plans to build what she calls an “opportunity economy.”
In North Carolina, she touched upon the need to lower the cost of living and make housing more affordable.
“I know what homeownership means,” Harris said. “It’s more than a financial transaction. It’s so much more than that. It’s more than a house. Homeownership and what that means—it’s a symbol of the pride that comes with hard work. It’s financial security. It represents what you will be able to do for your children. And, sadly, it is out of reach for far too many American families.”
Earlier, she recalled how her family rented for most of her childhood and how excited her mother was to buy a home after saving for more than a decade.
As president, she said she would work in “in partnership with the industry to build the housing we need, both to rent and to buy,” including cutting red tape at the state and local levels.
“By the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class,” Harris said.
She also vowed to fight corporate landlords that collude to set artificially high rents, often using price-fixing software. “I will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices,” she said.
Many of Harris’ proposals will need the approval of Congress.
Following her speech, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) announced that he is introducing legislation to provide the first-ever tax incentive to build new starter homes and a tax credit for first-time home buyers.
“My bill will focus on tax incentives to build millions of starter homes for first-time buyers and help millions of renters become homeowners,” said Gomez, chair of the Renters’ Caucus. “As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over these tax incentives, I look forward to working with my colleagues, committee staff, and stakeholders to comprehensively address the housing crisis.”
