The Biden administration is unveiling measures to increase affordable housing as housing and rental costs continue to rise.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announce new initiatives Monday to address housing supply. The Treasury Department said in its announcement that the new measures will “strengthen” programs and policies, such as tax incentives and tax recovery programs, that address affordable housing.
“We face a very significant shortage in housing supply that has been increasing for a long time,” Yellen said in prepared remarks scheduled for Monday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. “This supply crisis has led to an affordability crisis.”
Initiatives will include the establishment of a new program that will provide an additional $100 million over the next three years to support affordable housing financing and will urge federal home loan banks to increase their spending on housing programs, among other measures.
In her remarks Monday, Yellen will “urge Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to expand the low-income housing tax credit,” according to the department. She will also pressure state and local officials to “remove excessive legal barriers to housing development.”
The announcement comes after home prices hit a record high in May, with the average price of an existing home sold hitting $419,300. This represents an increase of almost 6% compared to last year and marks the biggest gain in prices since October 2022.
A new analysis from the Treasury Department shows that housing demand has grown more than housing supply since 2000 due to demographic changes. The rise in home prices also comes at a time when the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates at a 23-year high of between 5.25% and 5.5%.
The Associated Press contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
