As the cost of housing continues to rise, the issue of housing affordability has become a critical concern for voters, increasingly shaping the conversation on the campaign trail. So much so that the October Vice Presidential Debate dedicated an entire segment to the topic.
The portion of the debate began with the moderators asking Governor Tim Walz, (Democrat) to explain the Harris/Walz proposal to build three million new homes and $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
In response, Walz identified corporate investors as a part of increased costs stating, “No, it’s not handing out. The problem we’ve had is that we’ve got a lot of folks that see housing as another commodity. It can be bought up. It can be shifted. It can be moved around. Those are not folks living in those houses.”
Walz went on to identify Minnesota-specific investments and policies, saying, “We in the state invested in making sure ours was the biggest investment that we’d ever made in housing. It starts to make it easier. We cut some of the red tape…. We can’t do it at the Federal level, but local folks can make it easier to build those homes.”
Senator J.D. Vance (GOP) jumped into the conversation to explain the Trump/Vance campaign promise to seize federal lands to build homes, remove regulations, provide tax breaks, and cut back on immigration.
“Twenty-five million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country,” Vance stated.
During his remarks on the matter, Vance referred to a Federal Reserve study that showed increased demand for housing without increased supply will increase costs.
He would go on to say that reducing energy prices would also result in greater affordability in housing.
The exchange then evolved into a conversation around federal land utilization to build more homes. Walz stated that this may help in some areas of the country, but not all, and cited concerns about using the same land for drilling.
Finally, the segment wrapped with an exchange between the two candidates on regulations.
“Look, we are a country of builders. We’re a country of doers. We’re a country of explorers. But we increasingly have a Federal administration that makes it harder to develop our resources, makes it harder to build things…” Vance said. “And what that means is that you have a lot of people who would love to build homes who aren’t able to build homes.”
Walz challenged Vance to identify which federal regulations, saying, “I get this as a Governor, and I don’t necessarily disagree with that, that in some cases, many of those are local, many of them are state.”
He added, “I think whenever we talk regulations, people think they can get rid of them. I think you want to be able to get out of your house in a fire. I think you want to make sure that it’s fireproof and those types of things.”
“All-in-all, this was the most airtime that housing policy has received in a presidential or vice presidential debate in recent memory,” said Mark Foster, vice president of legislative & political affairs for Housing First Minnesota. “Identifying the issue is a big step forward. Unfortunately, both candidates struggled to identify the primary reasons for increased housing costs which lies in a lack of supply and housing options across Minnesota and the rest of the country.”
