Biden is in campaign mode, and the president wants voters to know he understands housing is out of control.
Over the last month, Biden has ramped up his bully pulpit focus on the housing crisis. In his State of the Union address, the president pledged new tax credits for first-time homeowners and to “crack down on big landlords” who price-fix rents. His new budget includes proposals to expand vouchers and housing supply, and he gave a second speech promising to “build, build, build” to “bring housing costs down for good.” When the president hit the campaign trail in late March, he dedicated a Las Vegas stop to stumping his affordable housing initiatives, and on Friday his administration even announced it would embrace some new rent control.
You don’t have to squint to see how the housing crisis is complicating the otherwise positive economic message the president hopes to sell.
Mortgage rates are so high that most homeowners feel they can’t afford to move, and most renters feel priced out of the idea of homeownership altogether. Wages have gone up, but not faster than home-buying costs, and over 22 million households now spend more than a third of their income on rent as of 2022.
Inflation and the economy remain the top issues for voters, and economists cite high housing costs as a main culprit for inflation still exceeding the Federal Reserve’s target goal of 2 percent.
This is all creating bad vibes, at a time when the president wants to build enthusiasm for a second term. A Redfin-commissioned survey from February found almost two-thirds of homeowners and renters say housing affordability makes them feel negatively about the economy.
Politically, the president also has a lot to worry about when it comes to mobilizing the young people and voters of color who helped him eke out a victory in 2020. Polling indicates that it’s these voters — who are more likely to be renters — that Biden is now struggling with: those who cast ballots…
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