We were psyched to see Yonah Freemark’s tweet earlier today hinting that President Biden might address housing affordability in tonight’s State of the Union.
And then we were more excited to see what Biden has plans to talk about tonight, after the White House published a fact sheet in advance of his address. It’s all good stuff. Some highlights:
- Mortgage relief credits for middle-class first time homebuyers
- Fighting rent gouging by corporate landlords
- Cracking down on rental “convenience fees” and other hidden costs that jack up rent
- Expanding vouchers
- Down payment assistance for first-gen homeowners
- Lowering closing costs associated with buying a home or refinancing a mortgage
- Tax credits to build/preserve 1.2 million more affordable rental units
- Calling for a new Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which would help build/preserve starter homes
- Proposing that each federal home loan bank double its contribution towards the Affordable Housing Fund
And the big one: unveiling a new $20 billion competitive grant fund from HUD to support communities across the country to build more housing and lower rents and homebuying costs.
Congress will have to advance these changes for them to be in effect. But this is a great package: affordable housing is a national problem, and it will take federal initiatives to help solve it. This is a vision that will help make home ownership more in reach for more people in the United States. We’re all for it.