What has Joe Biden done about the housing crises?

[bagelman]

The housing market is insanely expensive, and I don't see any obvious improvement in recent years. This is preventing younger generations from achieving the middle class. Has the Biden administration done anything to reduce housing prices?

[GP270watch]

Would you support a Federal housing build out? Or Federally backed loans for co-operative housing?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Besides building more, how can the federal government reduce housing prices? America has a housing shortage.

[Pres Mike]

Besides building more, how can the federal government reduce housing prices? America has a housing shortage.

American also has a shortage of construction companies. Many went bankrupt after the housing crash and the industry has yet to return to pre crash numbers.

America also has a shortage of skilled labor. And a shortage of unskilled labor lol for home building.

Finally, when homes are built they aren't affordable. The only houses I see being built are massive McMansions for retiring boomers. My state of Tennessee is a top retire destiniation. But no afforable houses are building built. But the larger the house, the fatter the profit

[ProgressiveModerate]

Besides building more, how can the federal government reduce housing prices? America has a housing shortage.

American also has a shortage of construction companies. Many went bankrupt after the housing crash and the industry has yet to return to pre crash numbers.

America also has a shortage of skilled labor. And a shortage of unskilled labor lol for home building.

Finally, when homes are built they aren't affordable. The only houses I see being built are massive McMansions for retiring boomers. My state of Tennessee is a top retire destiniation. But no afforable houses are building built. But the larger the house, the fatter the profit

Something that gets me annoyed is the young people upset about how they can't afford a 6 bedroom McMansion. Yes, the cost of buying a home has been going up for decades, but so has the average home size, even as the average household size has declined. Boomers who could afford to buy houses in the 70s and whatever were largely buying more modest 1000 sqft 3 bedroom homes in denser suburbs.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What they really need to do is start prosecuting gentrification as an illegal manipulation of the market.

[Sirius_]

Most of the policy affecting housing is made at the lower levels of government. Demanding Biden to deal with it is an ineffective strategy and expecting him to fix it himself is delusion. You need to go after the local and state policies constraining the housing supply. Don't believe me? Look at what Minneapolis has accomplished.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What they really need to do is start prosecuting gentrification as an illegal manipulation of the market.

It isn't.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It isn't.

It 100% is.

[dead0man]

two things
1.the "young people aren't getting houses" meme is a myth
2.there ain't much a president can do about this and it shouldn't be a position that can. This is, as others have noted, a local issue first and foremost.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

two things
1.the "young people aren't getting houses" meme is a myth
2.there ain't much a president can do about this and it shouldn't be a position that can. This is, as others have noted, a local issue first and foremost.

sure it's not as bad as some make it out to be, but I've looked. Housing and even renting costs are just insanity in most reasonably sized cities. It's why I've completely crossed off CA for my grad school search, if I find myself wanting to live off campus due to some stress related reason (as is the reason I went off campus here in Mobile) I'd probably be doubling my debt.

Yeet NIMBYs into the sun

[DrScholl]

Housing is a local issue outside of the federal government issuing funding. Even if the HUD identified sites to build housing they still need clearance from local governments. One thing that should happen is an increase in income limit for Section 8. Low income is a lot different than it once was and those making between 40k-80k struggle to afford housing in some places.

The local problem is that if you propose any sort of affordable housing people throw a fit because they worry about who it will bring to their city and the councils vote it down. If a luxury development is proposed you still get a ton of comments, but the council will approve it. That's because the big development fill their campaign chests come election time. One of the worst things I heard was a county supervisor complain how much campaign signs cost as justification for raising the donation limit. Local government is lost.

[ibagli]

I think the federal government could be much more involved than it is right now—the mobility of the labor force is clearly within the scope of interstate commerce—but I don't think there's a lot the President can do about that alone. Congress has pre-empted local zoning for other uses, like cell phone towers, so I'd like to see it do the same for housing, but that's a pipe dream.

[Ferguson97]

Eh, housing is mostly a local issue.

[dead0man]

The local problem is that if you propose any sort of affordable housing people throw a fit because they worry about who it will bring to their city and the councils vote it down. If a luxury development is proposed you still get a ton of comments, but the council will approve it. That's because the big development fill their campaign chests come election time.

and also because regular jackasses don't like the idea of living next to large numbers of poor people new to town.  It's a reasonable position to hold.

[MasterJedi]

Feds should build and sell the missing middle houses for cost. Normal underwriting that would be done by the banks to not give houses to people who can’t actually afford it but it would get a lot of people under 40 into homes and help the elderly and help crack the cost problem. 

[quesaisje]

It's a less than stimulating read, but the White House has a detailed page on this: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/

[LabourJersey]

Housing issues are influenced by and the result of zoning regulations mostly, and zoning is solely in the purview of local and state governments.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The tax cuts takes money away from Entitlements, when we end the Filibuster we can raise taxes on rich and contribute to poverty programs. We have an R Speaker anyways right now

[Santander]

The US doesn't have a housing crisis. There are self-inflicted housing problems in some local areas, but the vast majority of US housing markets still haven't even recovered to pre-2008 levels.

The federal government actually plays a huge role in housing through mortgage regulations and insurance. It is easier to get a mortgage in the US than most other countries. The unusual practice of US mortgages having their interest rate locked through the entire amortization period is also based on federal policy, and is actually contributing to current (cyclical) lack of housing inventory, because millions of Americans are effectively getting paid to not pay down their mortgages or move out, but this is not a crisis and will resolve itself.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The US doesn't have a housing crisis. There are self-inflicted housing problems in some local areas, but the vast majority of US housing markets still haven't even recovered to pre-2008 levels.

The federal government actually plays a huge role in housing through mortgage regulations and insurance. It is easier to get a mortgage in the US than most other countries. The unusual practice of US mortgages having their interest rate locked through the entire amortization period is also based on federal policy, and is actually contributing to current (cyclical) lack of housing inventory, because millions of Americans are effectively getting paid to not pay down their mortgages or move out, but this is not a crisis and will resolve itself.

A quick Google shows that fixed rate mortgages are pretty common in Germany and Spain.

[Santander]

A quick Google shows that fixed rate mortgages are pretty common in Germany and Spain.

1. I said "unusual" not "unique"
2. And no, Spain and Germany are not remotely like the US. France is the most similar country to the US for mortgages.

[leonardothered]

Besides building more, how can the federal government reduce housing prices? America has a housing shortage.

American also has a shortage of construction companies. Many went bankrupt after the housing crash and the industry has yet to return to pre crash numbers.

America also has a shortage of skilled labor. And a shortage of unskilled labor lol for home building.

Finally, when homes are built they aren't affordable. The only houses I see being built are massive McMansions for retiring boomers. My state of Tennessee is a top retire destiniation. But no afforable houses are building built. But the larger the house, the fatter the profit

As a former construction worker in Tennessee, almost every industry is rampant with immigrants. As a hard lefty this was surprising and a pill to swallow. We did trim carpentry and cabinets, and it was one of the few areas not dominated by what is effectively imported labor. A lot of this could be good work for young people and its egregious we aren't trying to incorporate more youth into skilled labor like carpentry, instead just shunting people through college for degrees that aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

This work is harder but waaaay more rewarding and compensated than basic service and retail jobs.

[jaichind]

The main problem is the surge in financing costs.   So the best way to "fix" the housing crisis is a rapid economic cooldown leading to near-zero inflation which in turn can trigger Fed rate cuts.

[Pres Mike]

Besides building more, how can the federal government reduce housing prices? America has a housing shortage.

American also has a shortage of construction companies. Many went bankrupt after the housing crash and the industry has yet to return to pre crash numbers.

America also has a shortage of skilled labor. And a shortage of unskilled labor lol for home building.

Finally, when homes are built they aren't affordable. The only houses I see being built are massive McMansions for retiring boomers. My state of Tennessee is a top retire destiniation. But no afforable houses are building built. But the larger the house, the fatter the profit

As a former construction worker in Tennessee, almost every industry is rampant with immigrants. As a hard lefty this was surprising and a pill to swallow. We did trim carpentry and cabinets, and it was one of the few areas not dominated by what is effectively imported labor. A lot of this could be good work for young people and its egregious we aren't trying to incorporate more youth into skilled labor like carpentry, instead just shunting people through college for degrees that aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

This work is harder but waaaay more rewarding and compensated than basic service and retail jobs.

Just about everyone now is begging young people to go into trades. But how do you argue for a physically demanding job thats usually outdoors?