Harris' new plan to lower housing costs hailed by experts: 'As monumental' as ObamaCare

16 August 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday afternoon will unveil her plan to lower housing costs as part of her broad economic agenda that includes $25,000 for first-time home buyers, tax incentives to build greatly-needed starter homes, an expansion of the child tax credit for families with newborn children, and a federal ban on food price-gouging to help Americans lower costs at the supermarket, according to CNN.

"The initiatives are part of Harris’s emerging economic plan, which she is expected to outline in a speech on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The vice president and Democratic nominee will propose restoring the expanded child tax credit of up to $3,600 a child, which was put in place in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic and expired at the end of that year. She will also throw her support behind a new further expansion of the tax credit that would provide up to $6,000 in total relief for middle- and low-income families during the first year of a child’s life."

NBC News on Thursday reported Harris's housing plan also includes "her support for efforts aimed at lowering the cost of rent and helping renters who are struggling financially."

Experts are applauding Harris's plan to address the affordable housing crisis.

"The Harris/Walz housing policy being announced Friday is brilliant. Massive growth policy targeting first time home buyers is how you focus a Latino policy without leaning into racial identity. This is a multi-ethnic working class agenda. I’m elated!" exclaimed Mike Madrid, the Latino GOP political consultant and Lincoln Project co-founder.

"1 in 5 Latino men work in the construction industry or a related field. Nearly 40% of Latino voters are under 30 years old - prime 1st time home buying years. This is a Latino focused policy - smartly focused on Latino men as workers & homebuyers," Madrid added.

"If this comes to fruition it will be as monumental as the Affordable Care Act," declared Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist at Redfin, the nationwide real estate brokerage firm, adding: "This policy is very meaningful for homebuyers in revitalizing rust belt cities and rural America."

Responding to a Wall Street Journal headline, "Harris to Call for Construction of 3 Million New Housing Units, Tax Incentives to Build Homes for First-Time Buyers," Fairweather on X also wrote:

Ben Harris, Brookings Institution director of economic policy told CNBC Friday, "economists have recognized the housing shortage as a major driver of inflation over the past four and five years. So, you know, the vice president coming out with the plan to add 3 million new homes to the market should certainly be welcomed by, I think most economists across the board."

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