Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled her housing proposals during a North Carolina rally for her ongoing presidential campaign, revealing an “urgent and comprehensive” four-year plan that calls for $25,000 in first-time homebuyer downpayment support, tax benefits for builders making starter homes and further expansion of more housing units to boost inventory.
The housing-related aspects of Harris’ agenda dovetail with her focus on easing middle-class Americans’ living costs, of which shelter prices are among the foremost stressors.
“Every day across our nation, families talk about their plans for the future, their ambitions, their aspirations for themselves, for their children,” Harris said to the crowd at the Raleigh event. “And they talk about how they’re going to be able to actually achieve them financially, because, look — the bills add up.”
Key to Harris’ strategy is the aforementioned provision of up to $25,000 in downpayment assistance to first-timers looking to achieve their homeownership dreams. Working families who have paid on-time rent for two years and are looking to buy their first homes will be eligible for the assistance, with “more generous support,” according to a campaign statement, available to first-generation homebuyers.
“We also know that as the price of housing has gone up, the size of downpayments has gone up as well,” Harris noted. “Even if aspiring homeowners save for years, it often still is not enough.”
Harris vowed that her downpayment proposal would be enacted by the end of her first term, along with building 3 million new affordable homes. She also doubled down on President Joe Biden’s attacks on “corporate landlords” during his now-terminated reelection campaign, promising to fight for legislation against “anti-competitive” rent increase practices. Corporate and wealthy investors buying up properties have been a target for the Biden-Harris administration, who assert that such investors buying up single-family properties to rent and marking up their rental prices are negatively impacting the real estate market.
