POLITICS

Harris's Housing Plan: A Recipe for Disaster?

Fri Sep 06 2024
Kamala Harris recently unveiled her housing plan, which proposes to build 3 million new units and provide $100 billion in down payment assistance. Sounds good on paper, but history shows us this approach has consistently failed for decades. The subsidies will likely raise prices, as many first-time buyers would have bought anyway. And the construction incentives face challenges like cost overruns, corruption, and competition from private developers. We've seen this movie before - it ends in busts, foreclosures, and lasting scars on cities. Instead of more subsidies, we need a paradigm shift: deregulate zoning to boost supply at no taxpayer cost.

questions

    Does the article accurately reflect the history of federal housing policy and its impact on affordability?
    Could the article be downplaying the potential benefits of Harris's plan in favor of promoting a particular political ideology?
    Imagine a world where the government just auctions off all its land for housing. Would that solve the problem or create a whole new set of problems?

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