Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from Wichita, Kansas, issued the following statement regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing plan announced during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina:
“NAHB commends Vice President Harris for making housing and homeownership a centerpiece of her economic agenda. We are pleased that the foundation of her plan calls for the construction of 3 million new housing units because the primary way to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis is to increase the nation’s housing supply.
“A tax credit to help builders construct more entry-level housing and expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) will help builders to construct badly needed new homes and apartments. But any tax incentive to support the production of starter homes must be targeted to local market conditions and be widely available. A $10,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and $25,000 down payment assistance are positive demand incentives but the plan must weigh more heavily on boosting supply because the nation faces a shortfall of roughly 1.5 million housing units.
“Unfortunately, the plan makes no mention of reducing onerous federal regulations that add to the 24% cost burden on single family home construction or the almost 41% increase on the construction of a multifamily unit. Further, on the heels of President Biden’s rent cap proposal, NAHB is concerned that efforts to target institutional investors will harm the growing single-family built for rent market, specifically those homes built for the rental market, and will further disincentivize housing production.
“NAHB’s 10-point plan to ease America’s housing affordability challenges focuses on removing the impediments that are preventing builders from increasing the nation’s housing supply, which include eliminating excessive regulations, fixing building material supply chains, and adopting reasonable and cost-effective building codes, among other things. Addressing these concerns would help the vice president achieve her goal of building 3 million new housing units.
“NAHB looks forward to working with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at all levels of government to put into place policies that will allow builders to increase housing production and enable more hardworking families to achieve homeownership and rental housing opportunities.”
The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington-based trade association representing more than 140,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. NAHB is affiliated with 700 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB’s builder members will construct about 80% of the new housing units projected for this year.
