Harris touches on housing topics in presidential debate

Tuesday night’s presidential debate — which could be the only one of this election cycle between the Democratic and Republican nominees for the highest office in the land this November — featured a spate of fiery moments between the two candidates. Housing, which has become an issue of focus in the campaign, was mentioned a few times among the myriad of other issues that took more prominence on the large national stage.

Kamala Harris

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has hit the campaign trail to talk about housing issues multiple times since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket in July, and Republican nominee Donald Trump has tied the issue of housing to one of his other leading campaign issues in immigration.

But with only a debate moderation team between them and campaign surrogates relegated to the sides of the stage of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the candidates had free reign to take each other on over both the issues at hand and the individual character traits of the candidates themselves. While housing came up multiple times, there was no direct question on housing issues or policy.

The first topic of the debate was centered on the economy and the cost of living. The vice president immediately spoke about the cost of housing, saying that it is too high. The former president used his first statement to slam foreign nations and highlight tariffs on China as part of a broader economic plan.

Later in the debate, Harris mentioned the cost of housing a second time in the middle of a section on immigration. She also discussed her background as it relates to the cost of housing, while also taking a shot at her opponent.

“I grew up a middle class kid raised by a hard working mother, who worked and saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager,” Harris said. “The values I bring to the importance of homeownership — knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed for bankruptcy six times — is a value that I bring to my work. We are going to work with the private sector and homebuilders to increase [the housing supply] by 3 million homes by the end of my first term.”

Donald Trump

Trump disputed the monetary inheritance figure Harris cited, saying he received “a lot less” from his father Fred. A New York Times investigation in 2018 said Trump did not receive that amount upon his father’s death in 1999, but “received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.”

When his father died, Trump and his siblings received a share of $20 million divided between them according to 2016 reporting by the Times.

Harris also spoke about her plan to provide financial assistance for first-time homebuyers in a later section of the debate.

“I have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American Dream by offering help with $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.”

When the debate turned to climate change, Harris specifically mentioned elevated premiums for homeowner’s insurance.

“You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences, who now is either being denied home insurance or it’s being jacked up,” Harris said. “You ask anybody who has been the victim, what that means in terms of losing their home and having nowhere to go, we know that we can actually deal with this issue.”

The former president did not specifically respond to or mention housing issues in any of his allotted time or responses.