Kamala Harris’ housing plan is probably the most aggressive for the reason that post-war boom

In a WashingtonPost op-ed On Wednesday, they attributed the housing affordability crisis to an absence of supply and estimated that three million additional homes were needed within the U.S., just about all in the underside half of the market.

The Harris plan, released earlier this month, goals to extend the stock of inexpensive housing by encouraging more construction while also providing first-time buyers with a $25,000 down payment.

Parrott, co-owner of housing consulting firm Parrott Ryan Advisors and a former White House economic adviser, and Zandi pointed to the expansion of a tax break for developers referred to as Tax credit for low-income householdswhich might increase the availability of inexpensive rental housing.

To make more cost-effective homes available for purchase, Harris’ plan also calls for developers to receive tax breaks on profits from constructing and selling homes to first-time buyers.

Another a part of the plan calls for a brand new tax credit for renovating homes that can’t be sold for a price that recoups the price of repairs. This would bring additional supply to the market that might otherwise go unused.

To overcome infrastructure deficits and possible political resistance on the local level, the Harris plan provides more cash for states and municipalities.

“Each of these measures would be significant on its own, but together they would represent the most aggressive supply-side push since national investment in housing after World War II,” Parrott and Zandi wrote.

At that point, the federal government supported veterans with the GI Bill, which, amongst other things, provided favorable conditions for the acquisition of a house. This led to more demand and construction activity.

Cost of the Harris Housing Plan

Of course, the plan comes with a hefty price tag: $125 billion. It would must be funded by tax revenues or offset by spending cuts elsewhere, the authors say. Otherwise, it might increase the federal budget deficit and help raise mortgage rates, making homes less inexpensive.

However, they warned that the initial costs of expanding supply could be far outweighed by the long-term costs of worsening the housing crisis.

“Our lack of affordable housing will continue to stifle savings, opportunity and growth in ways that will harm the economy over the long term,” Parrott and Zandi said. “A thoughtful effort to address the problem now will ultimately lead to more growth and lower costs.”

Trump’s housing plan

Donald Trump, for his part said Bloomberg that he would scale back housing costs by relaxing environmental and permitting regulations. But he also proposed at election campaign events that he would restrict the development of social housing in suburbs.

The The Republican Party’s election platform for 2024 blames illegal immigrants for prime housing costs and guarantees to deport them, which some housing experts say would scale back the supply of construction employees and increase costs. The platform also guarantees a mixture of demand- and supply-side measures.

“To help new home buyers, Republicans will lower mortgage rates by dramatically reducing inflation, open limited parts of the federal lands to new home construction, encourage homeownership through tax incentives and assistance for first-time buyers, and eliminate unnecessary regulations that increase housing costs,” it says.