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November 17, 2024

Affordable Housing—and No Tax Hike

On Nov. 5, Denver’s voters rejected Affordable Denver, a half-cent sales tax increase for subsidized housing. The tax hike would have burdened working families while failing to address the root causes of unaffordable housing. But the vote’s outcome opens the door for a better solution — not only in Denver but also in other Colorado…

October 11, 2024

HUD’s Housing Misfire: When Bureaucrats Know Better than Markets

Kamala Harris’s proposal for a $40 billion fund for local governments to explore “innovative” housing solutions will likely funnel money into projects burdened by self-defeating government-mandated affordability requirements, which HUD loves but markets abhor. By further empowering federal bureaucrats, it will do more harm than good. The case in point is the Department of Housing…

October 10, 2024

Harris’s Housing Plan and the Five C’s That Will Derail It

Kamala Harris’s latest campaign ad pledges to “end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals.” However, her plan is unlikely to significantly increase the overall housing supply. The cornerstone of her proposal is an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)—a program plagued by the Five Cs: Rather than expanding the LIHTC…

October 8, 2024

Harris Housing Subsidies: A Recipe for Repeating Past Mistakes

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has proposed housing policies that recycle ineffective strategies long seen in federal housing programs. Her key proposals include subsidies for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years and $100 billion in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers. Unfortunately, history tells us her plan would be worse than…

September 23, 2024

The Kamala Harris Plan for More Housing Shortages

A signature feature of Kamala Harris’s housing plan is providing first-time home buyers with $25,000 in down-payment support, at a total cost of $100 billion over four years. Absent a severe recession, this policy is all but certain to lead to higher home prices. That’s because the four million program recipients would become price setters for…

September 11, 2024

As America’s housing crisis intensifies, the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2024 has emerged as a high-profile yet expensive solution.  

The bill comes with a $500 billion price tag and endorsements from leading Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Moody’s, a major financial services company, has also blessed the act, predicting it will lower rents and significantly boost the supply of affordable housing.  But before the country embraces this rosy outlook, it must confront a stark reality: Government interventions in housing…

September 4, 2024

Kamala Harris’s Housing Plan Would Be Worse Than Doing Nothing

Originally appeared in Newsweek On August 16, presidential candidate Kamala Harris unveiled a series of housing proposals that recycle the same failed strategies that have plagued federal housing policy for decades. Among the key components are subsidies for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years, as well as a total of $100 billion…

September 18, 2023

There’s an Easy Fix That Would Solve Our Housing Crisis: Light Touch Density

We’re living through one of the greatest housing crunches the U.S. has ever known. It’s resulted in record numbers of homelessness and entire generations certain they will never become homeowners, that critical milestone of the middle class. But there is a simple solution to the problem. The answer to our housing crisis is to legalize…

May 23, 2023

Biden Courts Another Mortgage Crisis

The Biden administration is making moves that could imperil the safety of the housing finance system. Recent mortgage pricing changes, which have generally decreased fees for borrowers with lower credit scores and increased fees for those with higher scores, have rightly garnered public outcry, but they are the tip of the iceberg. The administration’s other…