Kamala Harris Has a Plan to Solve Generation Z’s Housing Crisis

When was the last presidential election in which candidates had a real debate about housing? In most elections, housing is not an issue at all, even though it affects the lives of every American. Even as millions of Americans lost their homes during the Great Recession, the discussion about it was relatively muted. Few voters know who the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is (if you recognize the name Adrianne Todman, pat yourself on the back), and most campaigns include little or no discussion of how we can make it more affordable to find a place to live.

But this year, it’s finally becoming an issue, thanks in part to Kamala Harris. The vice president could be the first YIMBY (“yes, in my backyard”) president, and that could be her secret weapon for energizing young voters.

In a new NBC News poll, 31% of voters under 30 listed inflation and the cost of living as their top concerns. “About 7 in 10 young voters said debt has delayed at least one major milestone in their lives,” NBC News reports, with the most commonly delayed milestone being homeownership. Asked whether they think homeownership will be easier or harder for their generation than it was for their parents, 84% said it will be harder, while 64% said it will be harder. A lot harder.

Ultimately, homeownership is only part of the story; for most young people, the cost of rent is what matters today. Both home prices and rents have risen faster than incomes nationwide in recent years. A recent Harvard University study found that half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

There are many reasons why rents and home prices are high, but most of them come down to a housing shortage: We simply don’t have enough homes, and we’re not building them fast enough. Estimates of the size of the shortfall vary, but they range from 3 million to 7 million homes. As the problem has become more acute, some have pointed the finger at “not in my backyard” sentiment: those Americans, in both liberal and conservative areas, who express support for affordable housing, zoning and land-use reform, and other policy improvements—as long as they don’t live there.

As the nation’s housing shortage deepens, those who claim that “Yes in my backyard,” especially in the case of multifamily, affordable housing, which has been gaining momentum. Among YIMBY’s targets are zoning laws that ban multifamily housing, laws banning accessory dwelling units and lengthy permitting processes that slow construction. While the YIMBY movement tends to be more liberal than conservative, it has opponents on the left, including environmental groups that are wary of developers. Of the 54 cosponsors of the Yes In My Backyard Act in the House and Senate, now in Congress, one-third are Republicans, and the House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved that chamber’s version of the bill.

Policies that would spur more housing construction are polling extremely well, with support from as many as 4 in 5 respondents. So the issue of affordable housing was just waiting for a candidate to take it up and run—especially one who was concerned about mobilizing young voters.

That’s what Harris tried to do in her recently announced housing plan, which sets a goal of building 3 million more homes over the next four years. It would provide tax breaks and incentives to builders and local governments to speed up construction of new homes, including multifamily homes.

The push to boost supply is especially important because Harris is also proposing $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. That part of her plan could boost demand for homes — and therefore drive up prices — right at the time when there’s broad agreement that supply and prices are the biggest issues. But she also supports two bills from Senate Democrats that would attack the issue of pricing. One would discourage corporations that buy large numbers of homes and drive up rents. The other would ban the use of pricing software that allows landlords to dramatically inflate rents.

All of this has led YIMBYs to consider Harris one of their own, even if she hasn’t yet embraced the term. Her running mate, Tim Walz, also has a record as Minnesota governor of support for policies espoused by the movement. And the broader party seems to be starting to embrace YIMBYism. As former President Barack Obama said at this year’s Democratic convention, “if we want to make it easier for more young people to buy a home, we have to build more housing and remove some of the outdated laws and regulations that have made it harder to build homes for working people in this country. That’s a priority. And she’s put forward a bold new plan to do it.”

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has a history of opposing any effort to make housing more affordable. When his 2020 reelection campaign struggled, the former president began railing against the very idea of ​​affordable housing, especially in areas with predominantly single-family zoning. Democrats, he said, “are going to completely destroy beautiful suburbs… People who have worked their whole lives to get into this community, and now they’re going to watch it go to hell.” The racial undertones were not nearly subtle.

Trump’s current “plan” to lower housing prices is to deport millions of immigrants, which will supposedly reduce demand enough to bring prices down. His vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, claims that the reason for the high prices is that “illegal immigrants…are competing with Americans for scarce housing.” This explanation is nonsense on every level; if the problem were simply “there are too many people in the country,” it could just as easily be blamed on Americans having too many children who ultimately need their own homes, yet the Ohio senator wants parents to have more children. The truth is that the Republican base has no housing policy at all, and their hope is that the mass deportations they have promised will somehow solve the problem.

Whatever you think of Harris’ proposal, at least it has substance, unlike Trump’s desires. Her plan would have to pass Congress, which is never a given. And even if it doesn’t, putting housing on the national agenda means state and local officials — who have power over factors like zoning laws — will feel more pressure to address the problem. So regardless of what happens on Election Day, the odds of us addressing this long-standing crisis have improved — all thanks to Harris.