For his part, Trump said there is a large-scale crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration, including the detention and deportation of millions of people. It will free housing for US citizensprice reduction. But some economists question that conclusion, mainly because of its effect on new supply: Reducing the construction industry’s large foreign-born workforce could limit homebuilding.
“It’s generally believed that the net effect of immigration restrictions is to put upward pressure on housing costs,” said Scott Lincicome, vice president for general economics at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. In addition, some analysts say that Trump calls for steeper tariffs it can increase the cost of many building materials, stop development.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not directly address the criticism, but the former president said it would “rein in federal spending, end the continued illegal alien invasion that drives up housing costs, cut taxes for American families, eliminate costly regulations and free up vacant federal land” for housing. relevant parts.
Before 2020, when presidential candidates talked about housing at all, it was always about middle-class home ownership.
Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
Both sides support opening up more federally owned lands to development, among other ideas to increase supply. On Friday, Harris proposed a new tax break for “starter home” builders, expanded tax breaks for building affordable rental housing and proposed a $40 billion fund to “encourage innovative housing construction.”
Jim Tobin, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, an industry group, said he welcomes tax incentives to jump-start development, but many hurdles remain.
“This administration has talked both ways,” he said. “When they’re talking about more supply, they’re putting more barriers in the way of creating more supply.”
He referred to federal agencies adoption of energy efficiency standards this year for new housing supported by public funding. The Kansas City chapter of the NAHB said the move will raise prices on the subway more than $31,000 per household, saving just $657 in annual energy costs. Instead, Tobin said the government should ease regulations and use federal dollars to promote zoning reforms.
“Building is very difficult in many places and that drives up prices” Harris admitted Friday at North Carolina. “We will remove barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels,” he said.
The White House has already tried to influence zoning, including a grant program to municipal governments seeking to change zoning laws to accommodate more affordable housing. Although Zhao agreed that funding is the “main pressure” federal policymakers can apply to seek such reforms, he said the administration’s housing efforts to date represent “a lot of nibbling on the edges.”
A Harris campaign spokeswoman said she will “continue to fight for affordable housing for all Americans as president, and she is the perfect candidate to make America’s most famously greedy landlord, Donald Trump, the loser again this November.”
A Republican administration, by comparison, may not push for zoning changes.
Trump has vowed to preserve single-family zoning to thwart developers and politicians who want to drive down prices by increasing housing density. During his 2020 re-election bid, he accused his supporters threatens to destroy the suburbs by introducing low-income residents and “criminals” into them.
Some housing economists caution against this position. “If the federal government actively tried to protect single-family zoning at the state and local level, it would be bad for housing affordability in those places,” Lincicome said.
Trump has historically been hesitant on rezoning. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson while in office criticized single-family zoning and praised cities that make it easier to build multifamily communities. But in the housing chapter, Carson wrote for Project 2025 — a policy book Trump refused despite a longstanding relationship with its authors — the former secretary said: “A conservative Administration should oppose any attempt to weaken single-family zoning.”
Trump recently told Bloomberg it would ease environmental and permitting regulations to cut costs he promised at a rally this month: “The areas right next to your house will not have low-income housing.”