Harris to announce 4-year plan to lower housing costs

By MJ Lee, Tami Luhby and Samantha Delouya, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris plans to announce Friday what her campaign is describing as a four-year plan to lower housing costs, including $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homeowners and actions aimed at spurring the construction of new housing, including tax incentives for building starter homes.

Harris intends to announce this plan as a part of a broader economic policy speech in North Carolina. As CNN has previously reported, the vice president is also announcing a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging aimed at lowering grocery costs.

Campaign officials had also said that she plans to address on Friday prescription drug prices in her policy rollout. That had been the focus of a Thursday event in Maryland, where Harris and President Joe Biden appeared together on stage for the first time since the president dropped out of the 2024 race.

High costs of housing and food have been some of the most stubborn economic challenges for the Biden-Harris administration, as Biden has received low marks on his handling of the economy more broadly. White House officials in recent days have touted falling inflation but also acknowledged that prices for many goods remain too high, creating a disconnect between bright spots in the economy and public sentiment.

“We hear you. The president hears you. The vice president hears you,” Council of Economic Advisers chairman Jared Bernstein said Wednesday in a White House news briefing when asked about Americans who do not believe the economy is in better shape now than when Biden first took office.

Harris’ plan

Parts of Harris’ three-section plan build on proposals that Biden has already unveiled.

The plan promises to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time home buyers. The down-payment support would apply to working families who have paid rent on time for two years, with more generous support for first-time home buyers. The plan, which would be implemented during Harris’ first term, according to the campaign, would also provide a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, something Biden proposed earlier this year.

According to the Harris campaign, the plan would allow for over 1 million first-time buyers per year, including first-generation home buyers, to access the funds.

“Many Americans work hard at their jobs, save, and pay their rent on time month after month,” the campaign said. “But they can’t save enough after paying their rent and other bills to save for a down payment—denying them a shot at owning a home and building wealth.”

The vice president is also calling for the building of 3 million new housing units. To spur construction, she would provide a first-ever tax incentive for builders who build starter homes sold to first-time buyers. She also would expand an existing tax incentive for building affordable rental housing.

“There’s a serious housing shortage across America and it’s driving prices up,” the campaign said.

In addition, Harris wants to create a new $40 billion innovation fund to spur innovative housing construction – twice the size of a proposed fund previously announced by the Biden administration. The fund would look to empower local governments, developers and builders to construct more housing that’s affordable and to support new methods of construction financing.

Harris would also seek to repurpose some federal land for affordable housing, similar to proposals floated by Biden and former President Donald Trump.

The plan also highlights two main proposals that aim to lower rent costs in the US. The first would block landlords from using algorithm-driven price-setting tools to set rents. The second would discourage wealthy investors from buying up properties and marking up rents in bulk by removing tax benefits for investors who buy large numbers of single-family rental homes.

Biden’s proposals

Addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis has also been on Biden’s radar, with the president unveiling new proposals to tackle it in his State of the Union address in March.

He announced two new tax credits aimed at improving affordability and increasing the availability of homes on the market for purchase or rent. One $10,000 refundable tax credit is designed to help middle class homebuyers close a deal on their first home. The other $10,000 tax credit is aimed at pushing middle class people to put their starter homes on the market.

Additionally, the president called on Congress to pass legislation that he says could result in the building and renovation of more than 2 million homes to close the housing supply gap and lower housing costs.

Last month, Biden called for withdrawing tax credits from landlords who raise rent by more than 5% per year.

The Biden administration has also urged federal agencies to review whether surplus federally owned land could be used to build affordable homes.

Trump touted a similar proposal in two campaign events this week.

“We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction,” he said in a news conference Thursday. “We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.”

In addition, the Republican National Committee platform says that the party will “promote homeownership with tax incentives and support for first-time buyers and cut unnecessary regulations that raise housing costs,” as well as “reduce mortgage rates by slashing inflation.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Bryan Mena contributed to this report.

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