Harris and Obama say we need to build more homes
Their call to “cut red tape” is an inflection point in the quest for housing abundance
In the past week, something incredible has happened in the discussion about housing in America. Two of the country’s most prominent politicians made it clear that they view our housing shortage — and the state/local laws that perpetuate the problem — as a critical issue for the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Last Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris said:
“Homeownership and what that means — it’s a symbol of the pride that comes with hard work. It’s financial security. It represents what you will be able to do for your children.
And sadly, right now, it is out of reach for far too many American families. There’s a serious housing shortage in many places. It’s too difficult to build, and it’s driving prices up.
As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing we need, both to rent and to buy. We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels.”
Then, on Tuesday night in his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, former President Barack Obama said:
“Our job is to convince people that democracy can actually deliver. And, and in doing that, we can’t just point to what we’ve already accomplished. We can’t just rely on the ideas of the past. We need to chart a new way forward to meet the challenges of today. And Kamala understands this.
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we want to make it easier for more young people to buy a home, we need to build more units and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that made it harder to build homes for working people in this country. That is a priority. And she’s put out a bold new plan to do just that.”
This is a huge boost to the movement for housing abundance. We’ve been gathering momentum over recent years as more and more people realize how our self-imposed shortage of homes increases the cost of living.
New York has made some progress, with upzonings here-and-there, and the current City of Yes for Housing Opportunity reforms. However, our city is still strangled by a web of laws that restrict our ability to build the homes we need, where we need them.
But this week we got an unambiguous signal: build, build, build — and cut the red tape that makes building hard, slow, and expensive.
I hope New York’s officials in City Hall and Albany are listening.
this is huge!