Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from Wichita, Kan., issued a statement regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing plan announced today during a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C.
"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."
Harris emphasized the importance of tax credits in supporting builders: "A tax credit to help builders construct more entry-level housing and expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit 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."
He also commented on demand incentives: "A $10,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and $25,000 downpayment 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."
Harris expressed concerns about recent policy proposals: "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, further cooling housing production that is otherwise desperately needed."
He highlighted NAHB's strategy to address these issues: "NAHB’s 10-point plan to ease America’s housing affordability challenges focuses on removing 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."
Harris concluded with an invitation for bipartisan cooperation: "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."
