Harris campaign launches new ad to highlight plans to build 3 million homes and curb inflation

Josh Boak
| Associated Press

Washington — Vice President Kamala Harris has a new advertising push to draw attention to her plan to build 3 million new homes over four years, a move aimed at keeping inflationary pressures under control that also draws a stark contrast to the approach Republican Donald Trump.

Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, outlines her plan in a new minute-long ad that draws on her personal experience growing up in rented accommodation while her mother saved for a decade before she could buy a home. The ad targets voters in swing states, including Arizona and Nevada. Campaign surrogates are also holding 20 events this week focused on housing issues.

As well as increasing house building, Harris is proposing the government provide up to $25,000 in assistance for first-time buyers. That message may carry weight at the moment as housing costs have kept upward pressure on the CPI. Housing costs rose 5.1 percent over the past 12 months, compared with headline inflation of 2.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Vice President Harris knows we need to do more to address the housing crisis, so he has a plan to end the housing shortage” and will crack down on “corporate ownership and Wall Street banks that drive up rents and housing costs,” Dan said. Kanninen, the campaign’s director of combat states.

The Harris plan would create tax breaks for homebuilders aimed at first-time buyers and expand existing incentives for companies that build rental housing. Because local zoning often restricts housing supply, it would also double available funding to $40 billion to encourage local governments to remove regulations that prevent additional construction.

Although Trump built his reputation as a real estate developer, real estate data shows there was a shortage of available housing during his presidency that has continued.

That deficit became more problematic when inflation rose as the country recovered from the pandemic and faced higher food and energy costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. High inflation has hurt the approval ratings of President Joe Biden, who Republicans and some economists have blamed for driving up prices with his pandemic aid.

Mortgage rates soared to levels that were prohibitively high for many potential buyers. At the same time, many existing homeowners stopped listing their properties for sale in ways that exacerbated the challenge of inflation.

Trump has floated a number of ideas for lowering housing costs — including his suggestion in a June speech in Wisconsin that curbing illegal immigration would reduce housing demand and lower prices.

“I will also stop inflation by stopping the invasion by rapidly reducing housing costs,” Trump said.

There is also the possibility of opening up more federal land for home construction. Economists who support Trump’s agenda have suggested — despite rising deficits during his presidency — that Trump would rein in federal spending if he were president again and that would lower interest rates.

Trump’s main game, however, has been to argue that Harris can’t pay for her housing agenda. This is even though he also attacks her because she supports the tax increases and other revenues proposed by Biden, which could, in theory, offset the costs.

“She has no idea how she paid $25,000 to every first-time home buyer, including illegals,” Trump said at an Aug. 19 rally in York, Pennsylvania, arguing without clear evidence that her policy would support undocumented immigrants .

The Harris campaign plans to hold housing affordability events in the Pennsylvania cities of Lancaster, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, as well as the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson.

There will also be events in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, and Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina, in addition to Savannah, Georgia.

Harris campaign launches new ad to highlight plans to build 3 million homes and curb inflation

By Matthew. Jr

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Harris campaign launches new ad to highlight plans to build 3 million homes and curb inflation

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