What the Biden-Harris Administration Can Do to Tackle Housing Affordability
As the bright spot of the economy, the housing market has provided a much needed boost but there remain millions of Americans struggling with housing affordability, mortgage, and rental payments. The National Association of Home Builders identified key actions the Biden-Harris administration needs to take to keep housing golden and to help housing affordability. The most important action NAHB’s chief lobbyist Jim Tobin suggests is a COVID relief package to support small businesses, and provide rental assistance and unemployment insurance in order to move the economy forward. As housing remains a bright spot, Tobin says new-home construction will begin to see fees that will further hurt affordability.
“We’re going to see the fees that go into home construction — especially new home construction — are going to rise because we’re the one bright spot in the economy,” Tobin shared. “And that’s a direct correlation to seeing home prices go up at a time where we don’t need that.”
Almost a quarter of the cost of single-family homes and nearly a third of the cost of multifamily construction are attributed to local, state and federal regulatory costs.
“We need all levels of government to be mindful of the impact of regulations on housing costs,” he added.
Another area of importance is labor policy and workforce development efforts to help address the labor shortage in the housing industry.