Kamala Pledges $25,000 to First-Time Homeowners

“Buying a house was so much easier for me than for my parents’ generation!” said no Millennial or Gen Z-er ever. Owning a home can seem like a fantasy for millions, like going to space or not crying while watching Coco. Luckily, Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged to implement the most ambitious national affordable housing program since just after World War II.

Home prices in the United States rose 50% since 2019 while rental prices have increased by 35% over the same period. According to Moody’s Analytics, the country has a deficit of 2.9 million units. This was largely caused by the collapse of the housing industry during the 2007 financial crisis followed by pandemic supply issues that pushed up prices in the construction industry.

Cue Kamala’s affordable housing plan pulled fresh off the coconut tree. Just about all of us could use a bit of extra cash, especially when doing something as insanely expensive as buying a whole house. So, the Democratic presidential nominee has pledged to give all first-time homebuyers a $25,000 tax credit.

Unless houses start magically growing out of the ground, we’re also going to need to drastically increase the number of units built to get out of this country’s housing crisis. Kamala plans to incentivize building three million additional units a year (on top of the one million already built by the private sector) by providing tax credits for developers. She will also dedicate a $40 billion innovation fund for local governments to construct affordable housing.

For those stuck on the rental treadmill, living with parents, and/or quintupling up on roommates to make ends meet, owning a home might seem like another generation’s long-lost dream. However, Kamala’s plan might bring it closer to reality than anything else we’ve seen in 80 years.

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