Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to build 3 million homes over four years to ease a nationwide shortage, Breitbart reported. This rings hollow after she and President Joe Biden failed on other infrastructure initiatives.
Harris made this promise as part of her pitch to become the next Democratic president. "There’s a serious housing shortage in many places," Harris told the crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"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," Harris went on.
"We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels. And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class," Harris said.
Many Americans are suffering because of the high cost of housing, thanks to the economic conditions created by Biden and Harris. There is a shortage of affordable options and no relief in sight.
Still, several indicators point to this as nothing more than a lofty campaign promise. The most pressing problem for such a goal is that mortgage interest rates have exploded during the Biden/Harris administration.
Many have priced many people out of the market already because of this, and Harris does not say whether interest relief will be part of her plan for this program. There's also the issue of logistics as her plan would translate to adding 750,000 homes per year, a number not seen since the period immediately following World War II.
However, Harris didn't specify whether her administration will add another 3 million homes or if she expects that to be total after four years, including what's already been done. In 2023, 1.5 million more homes were built.
If her number includes that amount, that would mean her plan is to add another 1.5 million homes over the next four years, which actually represents a 50% slowdown. However, expecting her to deliver on this promise at all is mostly an academic exercise in light of her record.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, Harris has already fallen short of a goal like this. For instance, the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed during Biden's tenure was supposed to provide broadband internet connections throughout the U.S.
Two years and $42.5 billion later, and not a single new Internet connection came of it, according to FCC Commissioner Brenda Carr. Notably, Harris was specifically charged with overseeing this project.
According to the Washington Post, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had also set aside $7.5 billion to meet Biden's goal of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S. by 2030. Only seven operational EV charging stations have come online.
If Harris couldn't get these projects off the ground with funding from Congress and a mandate from voters, it would be difficult to see how she'll ever meet the housing target. However, getting anything done is not what these promises are really about anyway.
Democrats have historically run their campaigns with promises to give away all kinds of goodies funded by other taxpayers. This is about buying votes, and Harris will do or say anything to get elected.
