The subject of housing came up four times during Tuesday night’s presidential debate — all mentions were by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis did not expressly ask either candidate about their housing platform, but Harris pivoted to the topic during her first response of the night.
Harris kicked off by describing her childhood as “a middle-class kid” before transitioning to affordable housing. “Here’s the thing,” she said. “We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people.
“We know that young families need support to raise their children. And I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children.”
Later, when pressed by Muir about her stance on fracking, Harris shifted to housing again. “We are going to work with the private sector and homebuilders to increase 3 million homes, increase by 3 million homes by the end of my first term,” she said.
While former President Donald Trump did not specifically address housing during the debate, he’s previously suggested using federal land for housing development to help meet demand as well as addressing supply chain problems and curbing regulations on homebuilders.
Both candidates have also offered tax incentives as a way to give first-time buyers a chance to enter the housing market. The GOP platform mentions that its plan to curb inflation will lower interest rates to make housing more affordable.
Later in the Tuesday debate, after Trump accused Harris of being President Joe Biden — “She is Biden,” he said — Harris again cast focus on homeownership:
“Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country … Let’s talk about our plans. And, and let’s compare the plans … I have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American Dream by offering help with [a] down payment of $25,000, down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.”
While Harris weaved in mentions of housing to answers about other topics, Trump often related his responses to illegal immigration. He has previously said that cracking down on illegal immigration will take away some of the housing demand that’s caused pricing to go up. He did not connect the issues of affordable housing and immigration during the debate.
When Muir asked Harris and Trump their last question of the night, about climate change, Harris related the issue to housing for a final time.
“Well, the former president had said that climate change is a hoax. And what we know is that it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or is being jacked up,” Harris said. “You ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go.”