A Phil Hall Op-Ed: Last Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first one-on-one interview since being installed as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee – not with a hard-hitting nationally prominent journalist, but with a sympathetic anchorman for ABC News’ Philadelphia affiliate. During this interview, Harris tried to explain her idea for helping prospective homebuyers get a toehold in the increasingly expensive housing market.
“Opportunity economy means, look, we don’t have enough housing in America,” she said. “We have a housing supply shortage, and what that means, in particular, for so many younger Americans, the American Dream is elusive, it’s just actually not attainable. To help people who just want to get their foot in the door, literally, and so giving first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment assistance.”
While Harris will never receive awards for displaying erudite grammar in unscripted settings, she is correct on two issues: there is a housing supply shortage and many younger Americans are having problems entering homeownership. Of course, she is not mentioning that this situation became exacerbated during the three-and-half years where she was the number two person in the Biden administration – but then again, what professional politician ever steps into a spotlight and admits they goofed up on the job?
But where Harris’ ignorance is on full display comes when she insists on giving first-time homebuyers $25,000 in down payment assistance. Harris views this as a solution, when in fact it really a problem.
The full measure of Harris’ down payment program is as follows: The $25,000 in downpayment assistance is set aside for 400,000 first-generation homebuyers – if your parents or grandparents were homeowners, then you’re not eligible for this money. Also, those seeking these funds will need to have a history of paying rent on time for at least two years – so, if you’re living at home with your parents (even if they’re renters) to save money to buy your own house, you’re also not eligible. Furthermore, her plan offers a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers – one of the many too-generous tax credits that Harris envisions for her “opportunity economy.”
Yet Harris’ scheme overlooks something important – down payment requirements are very high today because housing prices are at or near record highs, depending on whose data you follow. After all, down payments don’t exist on their own terms. Also, wage growth in the Biden-Harris era has trailed the rising costs of housing and, thus, has prevented many people from being able to put a down payment together without outside help.
Harris believes that increasing the housing supply will bring down home prices. Yes, that could help in concept, but not in the way that she wants to proceed. At a recent rally, Harris read these lines from a TelePrompter: “As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing we need, both to rent and to buy. We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels. By the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class.”
Yes, this sounds wonderful – except that three-and-a-half years of Biden-Harris leadership created many of the barriers and red tape that prevent more affordable housing from being built. Housing industry groups, most notably the National Association of Home Builders, have been pleading with the White House to acknowledge that regulatory overkill is a problem and to work with them for a proper solution. Doesn’t Harris and her support team realize how disingenuous her promises sound?
Even worse, 3 million homes in four years cannot be accepted as a real goal. Real estate developers will attest that it can take four years or more to get a housing development from the blueprint phase through the securing of financing. We also don’t know where these 3 million homes will be and how a Harris presidency will deal with the aggressive NIMBY tactics that occur in communities that do not want affordable housing developments in their area.
And, lest we forget, Harris’ proposal can only happen if a Harris presidency is mirrored by Democrat control of both chambers of Congress. If the Republicans win the House and/or Senate while Harris gets the White House, then all her talk would have been a waste of time.
Oh, before anyone starts asking “Well, what about Trump?”, I’ll talk about him next week.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
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It’s not her plan it’s Biden administration plan. All it will do is print money. They will print money and who do you think will get the contracts to build these government houses? It’ll probably go to D.R. Horton or Lennar or some kind of situation where they’re giving out money people will take advantage of it like they did with the PPP loans increasing inflation.
“Then all her talk would have been a waste of time”
She’s a waste of time.
We don’t have the money as a nation, we’re only paying the interest on our trillions of debt. Fix the issues first and get the country stable.
Thanks for explaining the strings attached to the “down payment” they’re more absurd than I imagined
Well Phil, we all know that Harris is taking a page out of Obama’s playbook with the “shovel ready” 3 million homes to be built during her 1st term. Thanks for breaking this down for Harris as well as others that don’t understand the complexities and regulations of developing neighborhoods and building homes. Parents and grandparents will have to pay for the $25,000 down payment assistance while their grown kids will still be living in their basements. Yay
That is the problem with politician and the government.
You can’t fix a “problem” unless you know how an industry works and how the problem started and became a problem.
You can’t fix things by just throwing money at the situation.
You have to look at the details and fix the issues.
How many “first time buyer homes” were swallowed up by corporate and deep pocket investors. Most first time buyers beg scrap and borrow to get a downpayment lost out and could not compete with the afore mentioned buyers.
This is a major problem not only in the resale market, but new home maket as well.
Now you have the Feds and the DOJ, pushing for first time buyers to pay for their own representation out of pocket in addition to their downpayment and closing costs.
While this SOUNDS good, the housing industry has been building homes as fast as they can already. And we are still so far behind. While 3 million sounds like a lot, there have been 11 million + more people who have entered this nation during her tenure already. This won’t even house them, not to mention those already struggling to buy a home.
Gee whiz I guess this reporter is a Republican. What’s Trumps plan?
As stated in the column, Trump’s plans for housing will be discussed next week.
It’s not about being Republican or democratic.
Read the article and try and put any bias aside. It’s about our business.
What are your thoughts?
What a dope. Has nothing to do with party. Govt hs no business building houses on our taxpayer money. flood the market with 3M homes and watch your home’s value plummet.
Lending regs are there for a reason and can’t be circumvented
Nuff said
Im appalled that this supposedly News venue here where we realtors are looking for Real Estate insights, instead we are getting a political one sided trashing of a candidate’s plan.
I’d like to see an unbiased Pro’s and Cons of both economic plans in this venue.
What is the Trump plan for the housing issues faced by young Americans?
At least someone is trying to think of something which may not be perfect and will need the industry expertise for assistance, but I do like that housing is one of the priorities being addressed.
Again, as previously stated, the Trump plan will be discussed in the next Op-Ed, to be published early next week. And don’t assume it will be glowing.
Realtors? Really?
Realtors have Children, Husbands, Wives, Parents.95% of Realtors do not make $150,000 or more yearly.Most Realtors are pissed at the cost of living during the last couple of years, Food, Gasoline, Insurance and Specifically Mortgages with High interest rates due to the inflation Biden and Kamala created with their Socialist Marxist ideology.
And Now this clown Kamala has a “plan” to build all these houses, and hand out $25,000 for down payments??
Typical Government control liberal communist thinking.
How about the billions it has cost by housing and feeding and schooling ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, That she is happy to have allowed to walk right in across our Southern Border??
This Idiot Kamala is not qualified to play and buy houses on a Monopoly Board Game, much less to fix any housing Problem or ANY problem.
What a joke that the best Candidate the Democrats could find was this Marxist that allowed a Cop killer in California not to go to Death Row.
DISGUSTING FAKE AND ANTI AMERICAN is what this puppet of Obama and other Communist is.
Not to mention that most people’s parents or grandparents were homeowners which disqualifies them from this program, too. The only ones that would qualify is inner city and illegals, in my opinion.
This issue can’t be corrected with looking at the very basic of things that effect economy and just run with it. The moment minimum wage goes up, prices of goods increased so you can’t solve it with a wage increase. Not take any other factors into consideration. Prices of lumber etc to build these mythical houses are high because good are still high.
*Insert sarcasm* Housing cost too much, blame realtors that make maybe 2-3% on commission for the high prices. That sounds like a good plan. It’ll take eyes off what we are doing in the background. /s
At least a business man would understand what a politician does not. Politicians don’t understand anything what a common person does. None of them understand living paycheck to paycheck and cutting out things like insurance to have food to eat or pay to heat your home.
Exactly Nola👍
I am appalled that I am part of a community that engages in name calling and discrimination and then sends it out as news. Why can’t folk just state the facts and allow folk to form their own opinion.
You’re Appalled??
What part of this is not true?
* Her Jamaican Father was a card carrying communist, a Marxist Professor at UC BERKLY.
He had a huge influence on her, taught her the “evil ways of Capitalism and the West”.
It’s amazing how 75% of people voting for her have no clue what a Marxist is.
* She has condoned and allowed over 8 million illegal immigrants to enter OUR country ILLEGALLY.
Did you see the Laredo border on 9-9-24?
It looked like a Third World Ghetto.
* She refuses to sit with any neutral Journalist or broadcaster and conduct an unscripted live unrehearsed interview.
* Anytime someone asks her about the economy or a plan, a policy, she mumbles the same crap-“ I was raised with my sister by a single mother”.
WHAT THE HELL does that have to do with the question?? Then she mumbles something else with that whiny voice followed by that Dumb fake Laugh.
Worst Vice President ever,
A Total scammer and
BS Artist and a puppet of Obama and other Closet communists.
She stuck to far left narrative and policy in 2019 during the Democratic primaries debates, (which she lost receiving no votes and did not win one single primary, Dropped out,) and now is changing her mind and trying to sound centrist.
She Hates Israel, loves Palestinian Hamas,
A TOTAL FAKE.
Mic Drop👍👍
I agree with MLF. Phil Hall is NOT presenting an unbiased view. This article is full of negative descriptors and dog whistles.
At least there IS a plan. The other side only has “concept(s) of a plan.”
The Harris/Walz administration will be the best thing that we could hope for. Actual progress for middle America. Government that works for everyone, not just those with most of the wealth!
Absolutely- there are a slew of derogatory comments from the author that couldn’t be missed right from the beginning! There was no chance evaluate Harris’ plan without feeling the color of his bias.
Does anyone talk about the fact that the Feds (a non- partisan branch of government) were the ones to drop the rates in a historically rapid and extensive rate in attempts to keep the economy alive during the Pandemic… that neither Biden nor Trump have a hand in that. That excessive stimulus created the rush to buy (to take advantage of the rates). We have all dealt with the inflation which resulted from everyone being on a buying spree (supply and demand).
What we need as a country more than anything is to again be the “United States”. As an independent, I am appalled at the lies and shape-shifting of the Trump campaign. He says whatever he thinks will get him the approval of the crowd he’s addressing…mostly just boasting and lies if you have time to fact check the quantity.
And the immigration thing?? We paid our representatives for a lot of time to come up with an immigration plan that both parties could agree on, a plan that had the support of the Border Patrol- those that deal with it daily. And Trump (just so that he could use a hot-topic to campaign on) killed it!
HE said he wants to be a dictator. He incited an insurrection. He is a convicted felon.He favors his biggest donors, and he’s attacked our basic rights. He threatens fair and just democratic elections! Can we really be considering putting him back in office??. Republicans in their right minds know we can’t have that nut-job back in office. His supporters can’t really say what he did to help us…he’s just a con and great only at only one thing: mezmerizing his followers. Wow.
For those who want the synopsis version of the above comment:
Delusional!
He doesn’t mesmerize us, but he has a better plan than open borders and throwing more of the working class’ hard earned money at problems. Her plan stinks. Dig the deficit hole deeper and deeper. She can’t even explain how she will lower prices. Our country is doomed if the Dems get into office.
Why not start by incentivizing hedge funds and REITs to disgorge themselves of the 600,000+ single family lower price rentals they own and keep buying, including entire subdivisions of new homes? Instead of INCREASING prices, this would actually lower prices and at the right end of the market. It would have to be phased over a period of years, but even if it was 100,000 a year, that would be a 10% increase in “new housing”. not insignificant.
When on the road to analyzing VP Harris’ policy proposals for housing, the author digresses to swipe at her grammar, which bears no relevance to the subject, one should expect less than an insightful product.
VP Harris’ housing proposals are insightful:
1. Building homes: The investment to build millions of homes would be repaid through rent and mortgage payments, increase tax revenue to States and Cities, and would ease homelessness in targeted areas.
2. First Time Homebuyer Assistance: HUD research has established that home ownership stabilizes communities, and other research have established that home ownership helps to build generational wealth.
No policy objective gets through our congress without being weakened or strengthened, e.g., Obamacare–what a win for us all. So, at this early stage it makes sense that VP Harris puts forward policy ideas in their purest (what the author no doubt see as naive) form.
Our housing problems (&economy) are exacerbated by the invasion of third worlders thx to the border czar Kamala. Our entire economy (& housing issues) would improve if masses of illegals are deported (cut off the freebies tax payers are paying for them, many will self deport). Once their numbers are greatly reduced, the jobs, housing scene will improve. Time to investigate the county tax appraisal districts too as they artificially inflate property taxes to prop up broke city school districts & infrastructures, increasing property values scam!
As accidentally admitted by Senator Sanders during a recent interview, Kamala Harris will say whatever will help her win an election. In other words, Kamala Harris lies…a lot.
As evidenced by her background, record of incompetence during the last 3.7 years and her current so-called housing plan, Harris does not have a clue how to solve a housing shortage or affordability problem. Her proposal to throw more taxpayer dollars at the problem, when U.S. debt is already at an historic level of over $35 TRILLION and growing by nearly $2 TRILLION per year, is, like her “Inflation Reduction Act”: destructively inflationary…it’s classic Marxist policy.
Kamala Harris’ “values”, which she insists have not changed, are defined by big-government regulatory control. The biggest problem for housing, is excessive government regulations that slow production and raise costs.
To the extent anyone wonders about President Trump’s housing policies, they reflect the same successful approach he apples to all businesses: lower costs and higher productivity through reduced government controls, costs and regulations. It’s common sense.
You should have discussed Harris and Trump side-by-side. I’ve never heard Trump address housing issues or offer any policy ideas to improve it. Look forward to your critique of the Trump Plan if there is one. Check Project 2025 – not sure if they address it either.
I do think your critique of the Harris ideas were fairly written. Seems like a genuine idea that would be problematic to implement.
Project 2025 is a Heritage Foundation endeavor and not part of the Trump campaign.
Good article but you actually went easy on Harris. Here’s why:
1. The stated purpose of the DP assistance is to BUY, but she talks about rentals.
2. The industry will build more than 3 million homes over the next 4 years if the gov’t does nothing at all. She didn’t say 3M “more” than the normal market currently builds.
3. The federal gov’t has virtually zero power to dictate state and local zoning ordinances which is where the real problem lies in affordable housing. She says she will change it. A complete lie.
4. A $25K DP assistance will only INCREASE house prices, not reduce them. Simple market analytics will prove that to be true.
I don’t want the federal gov’t involved in any aspect of building homes besides removing regulations that are driving the cost to build through the roof. For a typical $400K new house, regulations currently average around $60K per house. That same house could be sold for $350K easily with reduced regulations. Just get the gov’t out of the way, period!
National Average of Nee Homes Constructed each year equals more than 1 Million homes each year. Under Harris’ plan less homes will be built. No one ever points this out though.
Harris shows her colors with how she puts a solid wall around herself to stop from being asked real questions. Just like her “interview”… The debate was staged and planned (an ABC whistleblower attested to this) Harris was promised no fact checking, while she lied through her teeth, and given softballs. This shows her lack of political knowhow and corrupt ways. And DON’T believe her lies. She has flip flopped on major topics, and worse yet seems as humane as a rock. The “unburdening” jibberish she speaks of will be the death of our freedom and country. I am not a Trump fan, but she is NOT a better choice. And speaking of choice, if you vote for her because she is woman or of color, then you are as prejudice as the people the left complains about. And People have NO idea of what the media is doing against Trump and for the left agenda. Please realize there is so much Harris stands for that will RUIN our country, her and all that admin are in cohorts with the exact opposite the Dems fought for years ago. Big Biz elites controlling the stock mkts, shooting for the globalist/totalitarianism. If you think this is crazy, research in detail the WEF, and all the countries backing this agenda. This is just the tip of the iceberg that the US Titanic is heading for. The two most dangerous things are control of the MSM and loss of freedom of speech, underminings so set in our society now. And under the guise of halting hatred… that is just the excuse for it. It is interference in our lives and the election as well, and it goes so much deeper. We are in the deep… deep crud people, for the last time it is now or never… get the MSM earwax out of your ears and wake up! Harris is part of the US end game. The great reset… kiss our USA goodbye with her.