LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Harris-Walz campaign revealed a new policy proposal they say is aimed at helping first-time home buyers and creating more affordable housing.
Campaign officials said the federal government owns around 80% of the land in Nevada. At a press conference on Friday in Las Vegas, they offered what they say is a solution to fixing the housing crisis
“Everyone says Nevada is about 80 percent federal land, that’s absolutely right,” Zach Conine, Nevada Treasurer, said. “But if you build a housing development two hours outside of Ely, that housing development will be neither affordable, attainable, or easy to get to. So, we have to talk about the land that actually makes sense.”
Conine spoke on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign. President Biden announced a plan in July to “repurpose federal land to build more affordable homes, including thousands of new homes in Nevada.”
“Housing developers throughout the state are poised to add to Nevada’s housing inventory,” said Joe Lombardo. “We need a streamlined approach to the disposal of federal lands so they can get to work.”
The Trump-Vance campaign responded to Biden and Harris’s efforts to build new affordable housing.
“Ultimately, it’s important to remember that it is Kamala Harris that has housing so unaffordable in this country and across the country,” Tommy Pigott, RNC Strategic Communications Director, told 8 News Now on Friday.
Officials say Harris’s new proposal aims to tax incentives that would add three million new homes in four years, also looking to create a $40 billion housing innovation fund.
“Vice President Harris is saying we know that the local communities are going to have the best ideas. We want to make sure you have the resources, whether its dollars or flexibility, in order to be able to do it,” Conine said.
“They’ve made promises before about making housing affordable,” Pigott said. “What they’ve delivered while they’ve been in office is unaffordable housing and an American dream that’s further out of reach.”
Harris also proposed a down payment assistance of $25,000 for first-time home buyers.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group, estimated that Harris’s new plan would add $1.7 trillion to national deficits over a decade, to which Conine said Harris’s plans would put three million more families into housing.
