During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Tim Walz highlighted the importance of building more affordable homes for families and holding accountable Wall Street investors who buy up housing and treat it as a commodity, while JD Vance continued to demonize undocumented immigrants and blame them for the nation’s housing shortage.
Harris has vowed to increase the available housing supply by three million homes and to provide lower-income first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 in down payment support. Trump, on the other hand, has offered no specific plans for addressing the housing crisis.
The announcement from the Federal Reserve will lower mortgage rates and encourage more building of apartments, which could lower rental costs.
After years of a worsening housing crisis in Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris’ proposals seek to create three million homes by 2028, provide down payment assistance to first-time home buyers, and crack down on price fixing among corporate landlords.
The plan calls on Congress to pass a law that would withdraw tax credits from landlords who raise rent by more than 5% annually. If passed, the plan would apply to about half of all rentals in the United States.
A bill recently introduced in the state Senate would cap rent rate increases at 10% for current tenants and 15% for new tenants.
The actions announced last week will promote fairer rental markets, boost the supply of affordable housing and manufactured homes, and help families who are struggling to make ends meet.
With the governor having previewed two of his main objectives for Pennsylvania’s upcoming budget — overhauling the state’s higher ed system and increasing public transportation funding — we asked our newsletter readers to sound off on what they wanted to see Shapiro prioritize in the state’s new budget.
In Sept. 2020, the median home sale price in Pennsylvania was $230,400. As of Sept. 2023, that figure had risen to $274,900, a 19% increase, according to Redfin. Renters are also paying more in the commonwealth. In 2020, they paid an average of $684 per month for a one bedroom apartment. In 2023, they’re paying an average of $917 for a one bedroom, a 34% increase.
In May, President Biden announced that it’s his administration’s goal to reduce homelessness in the United States by 25% by 2025 and to rehouse 38,000 veterans in 2023.
