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Editor’s note: Inman does not endorse any presidential candidate.
Affordable housing has been in decline since the aftermath of the Great Recession, and now, at the threshold of another presidential election, affordability is at a crisis level. Agents and consumers alike are frustrated with low inventory, high rates, and near-impossible regulatory hurdles that those who want to build affordable new construction have to face.
In the past few weeks, President Biden stepped down and endorsed Kamala Harris as his replacement, and Harris has now chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Meanwhile, former President Trump announced his official veep candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and the mid-July Republican National Convention (RNC) cemented the pick.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is later this month, but it’s safe to say the race for November has reached a fever pitch as the battleground state campaigning continues.
With this rapid change in events, many Americans are left with more questions than answers about what this next election will mean for their households and which candidate has their best interests at heart.
Housing is connected to almost every part of life for the average American. Earning a fair wage, zoning, taxes, location and transportation issues — where we choose to live and where we can afford to live — play a vital role in whether citizens feel safe, successful and happy.
Americans are working harder than ever to keep the lights on, have a roof over their heads and put food on the table — and this election will be won on kitchen table issues. The stakes are high, and viewpoints are boiling, but when it comes to housing, almost everyone can agree that something has to change.
Read on for information about the presidential candidates’ proposed plans to change the landscape of housing and what this could look like for your kitchen table personally and professionally come 2025.
What we know about Harris’ housing plan thus far
President Biden’s administration has faced an uphill battle in making housing more affordable due to a gridlocked legislative branch.
Although progress with student loan debt cancellation was aimed at creating more opportunities for homeownership, high interest rates and low inventory make it challenging for low-income Americans to become homeowners.
After President Biden endorsed Vice President Harris on July 22,2024, she gained rapid momentum with Democratic delegates. On Aug. 6, the Democratic National Committee announced that Harris received 4,567 votes (99 percent) from delegates, according to ABC News.
Last year, Vice President Harris detailed her thoughts and initiatives on making homeownership more accessible to all Americans and why it’s critical for the hope, health and strength of our country in a special presentation celebrating the success of new homeowners who have benefited from existing government-supported programs that are designed to level the playing field and reward hard work.
On July 30, 2024, Vice President Harris spoke to a crowd of 10,000 supporters in Atlanta, and one of the key issues on housing in her speech zeroed in on capping rents and getting a handle on corporate landlords who are playing a significant role in the affordability issues happening right now, where the average rent is exceeding more of an American’s income than ever before.
CNBC interviewed Lending Tree, Senior Economist Jacob Channel on July 24 about Harris, and he is optimistic about her previous viewpoints on housing.
“Generally speaking, it does seem like affordable housing, zoning has been something that has been a talking point of hers for a while now,” Channel said. “If they keep on the same course that the Biden administration was on, I think there’s potential for a lot of good.”
Although Harris has not revealed her personal plan, many believe it will reflect Biden’s plan with her own personalized touch. America will likely hear more about her plans during the upcoming Sept. 10 ABC debate, expected to take place in Philadelphia, which former President Trump agreed to on Aug. 8. The candidates are still in talks for future debates.
Harris is likely to further the efforts and investments made in the proposed 2025 housing plan. The American Rescue Plan includes an investment of $258 billion in several different areas to “give working families a fair shot,” while asking the wealthy to “pay their fair share.”
Again, Harris has not formally announced any changes or additions to the current White House fiscal 2025 plan, but her record — which includes drafting and helping pass the California Homeowner Bill of Rights and introducing the Rent Relief Act in 2018, a bill that gives tax credits to renters who spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities and earn under $100,000 — shows a history of advocating for affordable housing and renter rights.
If you’re curious about Harris’ running mate’s record on housing, Gov. Waltz signed a $1 billion housing investment plan into law in 2023 to “reduce disparities in housing and homeownership, improve access to affordable housing, provide rental assistance, and invest in homelessness prevention across the state.”
Talking points
It’s important to note that the proposed 2025 fiscal plan builds on the changes the White House introduced in Biden’s Housing Supply Action Plan. The goal in 2025 is to reduce barriers to homeownership, lower housing costs and build two million new homes.
Here are a few critical points from Biden’s affordable housing plan fact sheet.
Fiscal 2025
Biden’s fiscal plan for 2025 budgets more than $258 billion to build or preserve more than two million units.
According to Biden’s Fiscal 2025 fact sheet, the budget would provide $20 billion in mandatory funding for a new Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion, invest $1.3 billion in the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) which would construct and rehabilitate affordable rental housing and provide homeownership opportunities, and provide $7.5 billion in mandatory funding for new Project-Based Rental Assistance contracts.
Mortgage relief
The administration plans to ask Congress to pass a mortgage relief credit that would provide middle-class, first-time homebuyers with an annual tax credit of $5,000 a year for two years, totaling $10,000.
Down payment assistance
This program will offer up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-generation homeowners whose families have not benefited from the generational wealth building associated with homeownership.
Lowering closing costs
The administration wants to create a pilot program that will waive the requirement for lender’s title insurance on certain refinances to save thousands of homeowners up to $1,500 (an average of $750) on their refinance closing costs.
Commission changes
In Biden’s State of the Union address, he highlighted lowering housing costs and promoting competition in the industry, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has prioritized those goals.
Tax credits
This bi-partisan plan, called the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, is aimed at new construction or substantial rehabilitation of “affordable, owner-occupied housing located in distressed urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods,” and it’s designed to “mobilize private investment to build and substantially rehabilitate 500,000 affordable homes for moderate- and middle-income homeowners over the next 10 years.”
Innovation fund
The Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion requests over $185 billion in mandatory funding over 10 years for programs at HUD as well as tax credits to provide affordable housing.
Unhoused
Biden’s proposed budget aims to work toward the ambitious United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) goal of reducing homelessness 25 percent by 2025 and ultimately ending it. The budget would provide “housing vouchers for youth aging out of foster care and extremely low-income veterans,” two groups disproportionately at risk of becoming unhoused.
Renter costs
The plan calls for lowering costs for Renters, enforcing the Blue Print for Renters Bill of Rights, more oversight in taking away tax incentives from land landlords who participate in rent gouging, and cracking down on junk rental fees, which currently create many financial issues for renters with a limited income.
Housing for seniors
As part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” tour, HUD announced $115 million in grant funding in February to support the development and improvement of affordable rentals for low-income seniors.
Trump’s housing plan
After winning the 2016 election, the Trump administration launched initiatives to rein in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those initiatives were never fully realized and have been largely reversed by the Biden administration.
While former President Trump takes credit for homeownership gains made during his term, one could argue that those gains were specifically due to low interest rates caused by the pandemic, which turned the real estate market on its head and stopped foreclosures due to moratoriums.
This shift in the balance of the market has been disrupted ever since, and the housing industry has struggled to keep up with the demand, ever-rising appraisals, and low inventory, thanks to those who were lucky enough to capture that low rate and are now “locked in” to their current residence for the foreseeable future.
Although it’s not hard to find general facts and statistics about what’s not working in the housing market, it’s much more difficult to find information about what the Trump-Vance administration will do to fix the housing crisis.
Realtor.com noted this in a July 19, article after Trump’s lengthy RNC speech, in which he talked about the housing crisis but failed to give a solid plan other than he will fix it.
Sen. Vance’s track record on housing is very conservative, reflecting that he wants inflation under control, and he has been very vocal about it. Vance is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Sen. Vance has supported deep cuts in the HUD budget and blames the housing shortage on “illegal immigrants.”
“It’s being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. Well, I think the more heartless thing to do would be to do nothing, to allow the inflation to continue to spiral out of control, higher interest rates, higher rent payments, higher mortgage payments for American families,” Vance told Business Insider.
Trump’s agenda for housing is not as detailed as the current administration, but he promises sweeping change and describes his policy as a “quantum leap” for Americans’ standard of living. Not listing specifics, the plan promises that things will be more affordable because of the policy that will be implemented. In a nutshell, Trump says he will cut energy costs and interest rates, and the economy will improve.
Trump also says that drilling and lowering energy costs will lower the costs of everything in the economy.
In this recent Fox News phone interview, his supporters specifically asked him what he would do about the rising cost of housing. He says, “We’re going to drill baby drill,” and points to “the worst inflation we’ve probably ever had in our country, and it started because of energy.”
Editor’s note: Neither the President nor Congress control interest rates; it’s the Federal Reserve.
Talking points
Here are a few critical points from the Trump-Vance campaign on how they will “revolutionize the American standard of living.”
Building freedom cities
There will be a contest held to help determine where these 10 proposed new freedom cities will be built to offer Americans a new chance at the American dream. Each city will be about the size of Washington, D.C. These cities will be built on vacant government-owned land and support hundreds of thousands of hardworking families. There are also additional plans to innovate flying cars for these cities.
“We will hold a competition to build new freedom cities on the frontier to give countless Americans a new shot at home ownership and the American dream,” former President Trump said, according to Daily Mail.
A new baby boom
Trump says he will lower the cost of homes and cars, and he will ask Congress to give money to young families who have a baby. This is mentioned in the agenda but, again, with few specifics.
“We will support baby boomers and we will support baby bonuses for a new baby boom, how does that sound? I want a baby boom, You men are so lucky out there. You are so lucky, men,” Former President Trump said, according to Daily Mail.
Tax cuts
The former president touts major tax cuts but offers no specifics — other than a plan for higher tariffs. There’s no information about how tax cuts would work or where taxes would be cut or lowered, but he seems sure that these measures would improve the economy.
Unhoused
The Trump administration plans to relocate the homeless population into “tent” cities and build larger mental health institutions.
How Project 2025 fits in
The 900-page “mandate” created by The Heritage Foundation for the next “conservative administration” has a detailed section that specifically references HUD and reorganizing many different departments. That chapter was written by Trump’s former HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
Trump has said that this is not the plan for his administration, but as the current Harris ticket warns, there are too many connections and correlations between the Heritage Foundation and those connected to Trump’s campaign to dismiss. This might help explain why Agenda 47 is so vague and also has similar, but not as detailed, overtones as Project 2025.
Both Agenda 47 and Project 2025 mention replacing those in current government positions and dissolving departments that are earmarked as “wasteful” spending.
Project 2025 is currently accepting resumes for those interested in working in the new positions and is also offering organized training to be prepared.
This plan is supposed to follow a 180-day overhaul, and housing aside, the mandate is aggressive and touches every aspect of every American’s current life.
Talking points
Here are some critical points from Project 2025.
Federal agencies
There is a comprehensive transition plan for federal agencies, potentially trimming up to 50,000 federal jobs.
HUD
Chapter 15 details an extensive reset and reorganization of HUD.
HUD’s new political leadership team will need to reexamine the federal government’s role in housing markets across the nation, and seemingly return more power back to state control.
Reversing previous policies
The plan calls to end the Biden Administration’s Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) policies immediately and reverse any Biden Administration actions that threaten to undermine the integrity of real estate appraisals.
Climate change cuts
The plan will repeal climate change initiatives and spending in the department’s budget requests.
No more Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
The plan will repeal the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation created under the Biden Administration and any other uses of special-purpose credit authorities to further equity.
Building program funding
The plan will eliminate the previous administration’s new Housing Supply Action Plan fund.
Taxes
Highlights from the Project 2025 Tax Plan are sweeping and extremely detailed. This includes reorganizing the current tax bracket system into just two tax brackets, simplifying or eliminating current breaks and deductions, a federal consumption tax, breaks on investments and capital gains and several other very strategic moves that the architects of Project 2025 believe will benefit many, and have an immediate impact on improving the economy.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan
Although the likelihood of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan actually seeing daylight seems nearly impossible as a third-party candidate, the concept shows that he has given some serious thought to a simple and actionable plan that could make a direct impact.
Although Inman doesn’t endorse any candidates, Kennedy spoke at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Below is an excerpt of the conversation.
Talking points
Here are a few talking points from Kennedy’s campaign.
Mortgage
Kennedy calls for creating 3 percent interest mortgages that are funded with government-backed bonds to help with affordability. He likens the plan to borrowing money from a “rich uncle,” but the uncle is Uncle Sam.
Tax code
Kennedy’s proposal would change the tax code to disincentivize the corporate entities purchasing homes out from under the average purchasers. These tax changes would help many different sectors and encourage the economy.
Minimum wage
Kennedy’s plan calls for raising the minimum wage so that more households have incomes that reflect current cost-of-living struggles.
Small business
One of Kennedy’s key messages is that it’s “‘We the people,’ Not ‘We the corporations,’” and much of his overall policy states that he will be vigilant in separating big corporations out of controlling government business and the business of the middle class.
By creating incentives that would support small businesses, Kennedy hopes to not only improve small businesses’ bottom line but also to get big-name corporations out of American food and medicine and from further harming the environment. In his view, creating equal ground for small businesses means cracking down on regulations for large corporations.
A hazy horizon for housing
There is a tangible feeling of the American dream pulling further and further away from the lower and middle classes. It’s not just that things are too expensive; it’s that values and ideas are shifting into new spaces that are not part of the status quo.
On July 2, 2024, Pew Research released a survey about the ability to achieve the American dream, titled “Americans are split over the state of the American dream,” which shows a significant disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
“While 64% of upper-income Americans say the American dream still exists, 39% of lower-income Americans say the same – a gap of 25 percentage points,” according to Pew Research.
What is clear about owning a home is that homeownership is a pathway to building stability, health and generational wealth. It’s not something that should be so far out of reach that one gets tired of holding out one’s arm to reach for it. There is a reason that laws were put in place to protect the rights of all Americans and their ability to gain homeownership, mortgages and fair appraisals.
History.com describes the 1968 Fair Housing Act as “the last great legislative achievement of the civil rights era.” There is so much more on the line for 2025 than housing affordability; the equity of the American dream is also at stake. While we do not have a crystal ball for the future, we do have a clear picture in the rearview mirror of the past.
Additional resources
Rachael Hite is a former agent, a business development specialist, fair housing advocate, copy editor, and is currently perfecting her long game selling forever homes in a retirement continuing care community in Northern Virginia. You can connect with her about life, marketing and business on Instagram.
