Harris campaign releases new ad to highlight plans to build 3 million homes, reduce inflation
WASHINGTON — Vice-Chairman Kamala Harris has launched a new advertising campaign to highlight its plan to build 3 million new homes in four years, a move aimed at inflationary pressure which also forms a sharp contrast with the Republican Donald Trump’s approach.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, is highlighting her plan in a new, one-minute ad that draws on her personal experience growing up in rented housing while her mother spent a decade saving to buy one. The ad is targeting voters in swing states including Arizona and Nevada. Campaign surrogates are also holding 20 events this week focused on housing issues.
In addition to increasing housing construction, Harris proposes that the government should invest as much as possible $25,000 in Assistance for First-Time Home Buyers. That message carries weight now, as housing costs have put pressure on the consumer price index. Housing costs rose 5.1% over the past 12 months, compared with overall inflation of 2.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Vice President Harris knows we must do more to address our housing crisis, which is why she has a plan to end the housing shortage” and will take tough action against “corporate landlords and Wall Street banks that are driving up rents and housing costs,” said Dan Kanninen, the campaign manager for battleground states.
The Harris plan would create tax breaks for homebuilders that target first-time homebuyers and expand existing incentives for companies that build rental housing. Because local zoning laws often limit the supply of homes, it would also double the funding available to $40 billion to encourage local governments to remove regulations that prevent additional construction.
Although Trump has a reputation as a property Data from real estate developers shows that there was a shortage of available housing during his presidency that continues today.
That deficit became more problematic when inflation soared as the country recovered from the pandemic and faced higher food and energy costs after Russia invaded Ukraine. The high inflation hurt the approval ratings of President Joe Biden, who has been blamed by Republicans and some economists for causing the price increases with his pandemic aid.
Mortgage rates rose to levels that were unaffordable for many potential buyers. At the same time, many existing homeowners delayed putting their properties up for sale, exacerbating the inflation challenge.
Trump has floated a range of ideas to lower the cost of housing, including his suggestion in a June speech in Wisconsin that stopping illegal immigration would reduce demand for housing and lower prices.
“I will also end inflation by stopping the invasion and quickly lowering housing prices,” Trump said.
There’s also the possibility of freeing up more federal land for housing. Economists who support Trump’s agenda have suggested — despite the rising deficits during his presidency — that Trump would rein in federal spending if he were president again, which would lower interest rates.
Yet Trump’s most important move has been to claim that Harris can’t afford her housing agenda, while also attacking her for supporting Biden’s tax hikes and other revenue-raising measures that could theoretically 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, claiming without clear evidence that her policies would help immigrants without legal status.
Harris’ campaign plans to hold affordable housing events in the Pennsylvania cities of Lancaster, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and in the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson.
Events will also be held in the Nevada cities of Las Vegas and Reno and the North Carolina cities of Asheville and Charlotte, in addition to Savannah, Georgia.