The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) offered cautious praise for Vice President Kamala Harris’ focus on the challenges facing housing affordability, expressing satisfaction that she is speaking about the subject but warning that some of her ideas would create more problems than solutions.
“NAHB commends Vice President Harris for making housing and homeownership a centerpiece of her economic agenda,” said NAHB Chairman Carl Harris, a custom homebuilder from Wichita, Kansas, in a statement. “We are pleased that the foundation of her plan calls for the construction of 3 million new housing units because the primary way to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis is to increase the nation’s housing supply.”
While NAHB’s Harris (who is not related to the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate) stated that expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit would encourage builders to construct more affordable properties, he warned this cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach.
“But any tax incentive to support the production of starter homes must be targeted to local market conditions and be widely available,” he continued. “A $10,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and $25,000 downpayment assistance are positive demand incentives but the plan must weigh more heavily on boosting supply because the nation faces a shortfall of roughly 1.5 million housing units.”
On the downside, Harris complained the vice president was not listening to the NAHB’s longstanding complaints about Biden administration policies related to home construction.
“Unfortunately, the plan makes no mention of reducing onerous federal regulations that add to the 24% cost burden on single family home construction or the almost 41% increase on the construction of a multifamily unit,” Harris said. “Further, on the heels of President Biden’s rent cap proposal, NAHB is concerned that efforts to target institutional investors will harm the growing single-family built for rent market, specifically those homes built for the rental market, further disincentivizing housing production that is otherwise desperately needed.”
Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
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Dropping the prices would be better, not raising everything up
Builders I’m talking to are not happy with those proposals. They want to be released from the horrible regulations set on them and the high costs they are enduring from supply and supply chains. Besides … who pays for all this?
We have a shortage of units! Trying to create more demand will drive prices higher and eventually a downturn. Reduce government regs and delays and reduce energy costs and get out of the way
The only Builders who support Harris are the ones getting our tax dollars to fund Smart City’s..
All associations have their politicians and gov officials in each others back and front pockets for agreements that benefit them and them only.
Tell me why all these gov/state funded “low income housing” rentals ( not owned …go figure)…in the past had say, 100 units built.. 20 need a rent reduction/qualifing income.
Of all those big rental apartments:….
Who audits if they still even rent to lower income if they moved out ?? ? It’s all for profit under the “not for profit” title…
And where is all this rent money going too? Who gets it? You still get evicted if you don’t pay your rent!
Kerry, I agree.
Fed govt. should have no place in regulating/changing land use/density in individual communities.
Kamala is pandering to every possible voter group …
Builders are a block of voters; Well funded, organized, represented by lobbyists who promote their best interests.
(Higher density = more square feet per project = greater profit.)
This looks like HUD Projects resulting in slums and crime. We have enough of both
These builders need to be called out and boycotted. They are corrupt and anti-American.
Exactly. Stop the spread of socialist blue schitholes.
Stop the corruption. Builders supporting Harris are evil.