With just weeks remaining before the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are crisscrossing the country with campaign stops and speeches to make their final appeals to voters. Housing is close to the top of the list of economic issues voters say they are concerned with—and Harris has unveiled some specific plans, including offering first-time home buyers $25,000 toward down payments and building millions of new housing units.
A new report by the Institute for Policy Studies and Popular Democracy called “Billionaire Blowback on Housing” highlights a rarely named but significant contributor to the current housing crisis: billionaire investors who have spent years buying up surplus residential properties and entering the long-term rental and short-term vacation markets, as well as engaging in real estate speculation. The report also documents how grassroots housing rights and tenant rights groups are fighting back.
Chuck Collins, lead author of the report, is director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org. He spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about how to end the housing crisis.