A Real Plan to Fix Housing in CA-18

Position statement of Chris Demers for the federal government to address the housing affordability crisis.

“Many are facing pain due to the unaffordable housing market. The federal government is not doing enough to

address the crisis, which is decades in the making and on both parties' watch. Real leaders create real plans to

tackle our biggest problems.”– Chris Demers

Reduce supply costs:

Congress must restrict the executive branch’s authority to impose tariffs that increase the cost of core housing supplies. Tariffs on housing inputs like lumber, steel, drywall, cement and major appliances are raising building costs by over 10%.

Incentivize builders toward affordable housing:

Expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for builders in both deduction amount and price of house that qualifies for the credit. This will encourage creating more supply.

Cut the red tape:

Introduce a federal streamlining homebuilding act that time-limits all permitting process, places more housing projects as “low impact” or categorical exceptions, and removes duplicative steps. This will cut admin costs in half for home builders and reduce developer lead times by months.

Stop rich investors from shrinking supply:

Congress must restrict corporations and institutional investors from owning large numbers of single-family homes. Investor attempts to profit from single-family homes is shrinking supply and forcing people to be renters.

Encourage lower mortgage rates:

Banks must be infused with housing loan liquidity through the Federal Home Loan Banks. This will allow them to issue more home mortgages and encourages lower rates. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must purchase more mortgage bonds. This creates liquidity and lowers mortgage rates.

Keep low-income people in homes:

Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV) programs must be funded in full until our housing crisis passes. These cannot be part of federal budget cuts. People bumped from this program will not be able to otherwise afford rental housing in the current market.

Create better accountability:

Re-empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, underscoring its role in stopping mortgage fraud and builder price gauging. Require banks to make variable rate mortgages a limited % of fixed rates not prime rates. And direct the Department of Justice to follow through with all investigations of home price fixing.