Harris, Trump and Obama put housing in the spotlight
Workers install sheathing and roofing at Habitat for Humanity of Long Island house build in Riverhead on Tuesday morning July 2, 2024. Credit: Tom Lambui
In between references to former President Donald Trump's crowd size and a rallying cry of "Yes, she can," former President Barack Obama took time during his Democratic National Convention speech last week to make an unusual detour for a presidential election year: a brief, but significant, reference to housing.
"She knows, for example, that if we want to make it easier for more young people to buy a home, we need to build more units, and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that have made it harder to build homes for working people in this country," Obama said of Vice President Kamala Harris.
It was easy to miss, but for housing advocates who've struggled to make housing a front-burner issue, it was an extraordinary moment.
It came after Harris introduced new policy proposals to provide tax incentives to builders who sell starter homes, down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers, and an incentive fund for local governments. Housing got a mention in Harris' own convention speech. And on Tuesday, she doubled down, unveiling a housing-focused ad that promised to "end America's housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals."
Trump, too, has recognized the need for more affordable housing as part of his attacks on immigration, suggesting that what's available is being taken by migrants, though there's no evidence linking the two crises. In June, Trump called zoning "a killer" and pointed to environmental regulations that push up housing costs. That came in contrast to earlier comments, when Trump accused President Joe Biden of "trying to abolish the suburbs" by promoting housing construction. Whether Trump will go after Harris by similarly weaponizing housing remains to be seen.
Housing has become a central pain point for cities and suburbs, too, but state officials who've tried to address it have had mixed results. Gov. Kathy Hochul ran up against local elected officials who ultimately derailed her "Housing Compact," which sought to override local zoning in some cases. She ended up promoting incentive-based policies to encourage housing development. Illinois, California and others have fought similar battles with limited success.
Other parts of the country share a different concern. The nation's environmental challenges, particularly when it comes to water supply in states like Arizona, have led to calls to stop new home construction in some spots.
Nonetheless, Harris is right to recognize that a lack of supply is key to the nation's housing difficulties. In a vacuum, her 3-million-unit goal isn't a total moonshot; the Census Bureau says about 1.45 million homes were finished in 2023, the vast majority of which were single-family homes. But that pace won't meet the need.
The biggest roadblock likely is unmovable. Some of those "outdated laws and regulations" Obama rightly talked about are beyond even a president's control. Long Island illustrates that lesson first hand, as too many town supervisors and village mayors still refuse to open up their communities to a variety of housing beyond the traditional single-family home. Instead, they play into residents' fear, using the "save our suburbs" mantra that Trump, too, is exploiting.
Harris has shone a welcome spotlight on an issue that doesn't usually get much presidential attention. Whether she — or Trump — can actually do anything to solve the nation's housing crisis may depend on whether those suburbs — including Long Island — realize that they are part of the problem that needs to be solved.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
