Housing Policy From Trump and Biden

With election day looming, the Chief Economist and VP at LendingTree, Tendayi Kapfidze, published a detailed list of the presidential candidates' stances and actions as they relate to housing issues.

"Although housing isn’t one of the hottest topics on the campaign trail, the outcome of the election could have a profound impact on the housing market," Kapfidze wrote. "President Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent, hasn’t laid out any detailed, forward-looking proposals for housing policy, but does have a record he is running on. The Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, has ambitious housing policy goals outlined on his website."

Kapfidze proceeds to dive into the subject matter with two bulleted lists.

Here is what Donald Trump says he'll do/has done, according to Kapfidze, who expounds further on each point on LendingTree.com:

• Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by 2024.
• Rolled back key housing discrimination law--in July 2020, the Trump administration ended the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation, which was introduced by President Barack Obama in 2015 and was a provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
• Create “opportunity zones” ("the goal is to create economic opportunity and employment through the development of commercial properties and improve housing availability and quality via residential investment")

Kapfidze summarizes that "the President broadly believes that the government should have a limited role in housing regulation and finance. As such, his proposals generally reduce the involvement of the federal government in lending, by proposing to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Trump is also against various consumer protections, having reduced the enforcement powers of the CFPB. He has also worked to remove policies designed to protect consumers against housing discrimination."

As for Joe Biden, he has/promises to (Kapfidze, on LendingTree.com, expounds on each of his following points):

• Released a detailed $640 billion housing plan
• Create a new advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000 to increase homeownership
• “Enact legislation requiring any state receiving federal dollars through the Community Development Block Grants or Surface Transportation Block Grants to develop a strategy for inclusionary zoning”

"Biden’s plans are largely designed to assist those who face difficulty and discrimination in accessing the housing market. Broadly, his plans aim to make some progress addressing historical inequities in how housing finance and development has been conducted in the United States," Kapfidze said. "Biden has released detailed plans covering access to housing finance, fighting the racial homeownership gap, increasing affordable housing, protecting renters, fighting homelessness and increasing the supply of homes through zoning changes."