Kamala Harris is pushing a decidedly capitalist approach to addressing the high cost of housing. She would address the supply side by working to incentivize builders to build more homes with a target of getting 3 million extra units built in her first term. She would also address the high hurdle of initially getting into the housing market by providing down payment assistance to first time home buyers.
For those who wonder if this is truly possible or what effect this combination of policies might have in the real world, it turns out that Singapore has implemented a similar two part approach to build housing and subsidize first time buyers. The results are that their housing market is stable and 90% of residents own their own homes.
Certainly America is not Singapore so it’s not like we should expect 90% home ownership anytime soon but perhaps we could achieve 90% or higher home ownership among those that actually want to own their home rather than having many people who would love to own their home but have no avenue to get into one.
In case you don’t know, Donald Trump also has a “plan” to deal with the price of housing. When he was asked how he would deal with it he said he would deport immigrants. (Someone has a one-track mind.)
