Article Summary –
Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, proposes to tackle Pennsylvania’s housing crisis by building 3 million homes by 2028, offering $25,000 down payment aid to first-time buyers, and curbing corporate landlord price-fixing. Her plans include tax credits for builders and repurposing federal land for housing. However, congressional approval is essential, potentially challenging if Republicans control the House or Senate. Harris also supports measures to lower rent costs by limiting tax benefits for large housing investors and addressing rent-setting software that inflates prices. These initiatives aim to bolster the middle class and address the national shortage of affordable homes.
Kamala Harris Proposes Creating Three Million Homes by 2028 to Combat Housing Crisis in Pennsylvania
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has promised to focus on economic opportunity and rebuilding the middle class if elected president.
Harris aims to address the current housing crisis in Pennsylvania and the US. Nationally, there is a shortage of more than seven million affordable homes for extremely low-income families. Seventy percent of these families are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income on rent. Moreover, there is no state where a renter working full-time at minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Mortgage rates are above 6%, and with steadily rising home prices and the lowest inventory of homes for sale in over a decade, the market is pricing out working and middle-class families.
In Sept. 2020, the median home sale price in Pennsylvania was $230,400. By July 2024, it had risen to $307,300, an over 33% increase, according to Redfin. Renters also pay more. In 2020, they paid an average of $684 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. In 2024, median rent is $1,550 for a one-bedroom, more than double the price from four years ago, according to Zillow.
Expanded tax credits and funding for first-time home buyers
Harris promised to increase available housing supply by expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. She wants to create a $40 billion tax credit to make building new housing economically practical for builders, to close the gap between housing needed and housing available. This funding would also allow repurposing federal lands for new housing developments.
Harris’ plan also calls for streamlining the permit approval and review process. These proposals aim to create three million homes by 2028.
The Harris-Walz campaign vowed to create a plan providing lower-income first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 in down payment support.
“We will end America’s housing shortage,” Harris added during her DNC address, a declaration that was met with applause from delegates.
Bringing down rent costs
Harris is also proposing acts to address rising rent costs and lower tenants’ expenses. She endorsed the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which would remove key tax benefits for housing investors acquiring large numbers of single-family rental homes. Institutional investors may control 40% of US single-family rental homes by 2030.
The Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act aims to crack down on rent-setting software that “enables price-fixing among corporate landlords.” Last week, the Justice Department, along with the attorneys general of eight states, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against RealPage Inc. for its “unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing.”
According to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, a record 22.4 million American households now spend at least 30% of their income on rent.
Harris has also backed President Biden’s proposal to pass a law withdrawing tax credits from landlords who raise rent by more than 5% annually. This would apply to landlords with at least 50 units, covering 20 million units nationwide, according to the White House.
Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, called it a “historic” move that would “increase housing stability for tenants.”
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