Harris to propose construction of 3 million new homes as part of economic agenda

Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing plan involves pushing for the construction of millions of new homes while incentivizing the construction of homes for first-time buyers.

Harris is set to unveil her economic and affordability plan Friday, but the details of what her economic policy agenda might look like are beginning to emerge. As part of the plan, she will call for the construction of 3 million new housing units over the course of her first term in office, according to Harris campaign officials.

The push for more housing comes amid a bruising housing shortage in the United States that has featured decades of undersupply. Harris’s plan appears to build off President Joe Biden’s previous call for the construction of 2 million new homes.

Harris will also unveil a new tax incentive for builders that will reward them for building homes for first-time homebuyers, although there are little details about that plan as of Thursday evening.

Harris will also pitch a $40 billion fund to help local governments find solutions to housing undersupply. Biden had proposed a $20 billion fund to do the same thing.

During this year’s State of the Union address, Biden proposed providing a $5,000 tax credit for middle-class first-time homebuyers for two years, which he described as a form of mortgage relief. He also pitched a $10,000 credit for those who sell their starter homes.

But critics of that plan contend that doing so would backfire by increasing demand and putting upward pressure on home prices.

Harris is now proposing that families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are first-time homebuyers receive up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.

Biden has also pushed for Congress to make it so corporate landlords have to cap rent increases on existing units at 5% or lose prized tax breaks, something that Republicans in Congress would certainly not support.

That proposal would apply only to corporate landlords with over 50 units in their portfolios and would cover more than 50 million units across the country, according to the White House.

Also on Thursday, Harris unveiled a plan to target food inflation at the grocery store. As part of it, Harris would try to enact the “first-ever federal ban on corporate price-gouging,” something that critics argue would not work and could lead to food shortages.