Bernie Sanders announced a new campaign platform for affordable housing, outlined as he campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in high-cost New York City.
The Vermont senator’s proposal features most prominently a $5 billion annual minimum contribution to a federal affordable housing trust fund. He also would boost federal spending to build more affordable housing and attempt to aid first-time homebuyers by expanding the Federal Housing Administration.
Sanders outlined his housing plan while touring a housing project in Brooklyn Sunday night, according to a report from Newsday. His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, proposed her own set of policies addressing high housing costs in February. The three Republican candidates have not discussed housing affordability in detail during the campaign.
The U.S. is in the midst of a rental cost “crisis,” according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. About 12 million households face rents of more than half their income, according to a Harvard study, and that number is expected to climb as the country’s demographics change.
In a proposal newly posted to his campaign site, Sanders recommends boosting the federal affordable housing trust fund, which currently is funded through a cut of deals made by the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
While many advocates favor the trust fund because it has a dedicated funding stream outside of Congress’ appropriating power, conservatives have criticized it as a slush fund and have sought to prevent Fannie and Freddie from funding it.
Apart from rental assistance, Sanders calls for expanding existing programs aimed at helping first-time homebuyers, implementing credit score reform and cracking down on “predatory lending.”
On his site, the populist senator also underlines his opposition to cutting the tax deduction for middle-class families’ mortgage interest and suggests expanding it to families who do not itemize deductions.
In contrast, Clinton’s plan includes $25 billion in federal spending to combat blight and build affordable housing in depressed neighborhoods. She also would boost the supply of low-income housing tax credits. On the housing side, she called for matching up to $10,000 in savings for downpayments for would-be homebuyers in poor areas.
