Matt Reynolds | (TNS) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Law student Aundria Towns and her partner, health care worker Hayden Herrick, have a household income of more than $100,000. Pre-pandemic, those earnings might have given the Douglas County, Georgia, couple a pick of houses.
Not in 2024.
Weighed down by student loans, $2,000-a-month rent, stubbornly high interest rates and soaring house prices, the couple has put their plans to buy a house in Cobb County on hold. At least for the time being.
“It seems so out of reach. It seems almost impossible,” Towns told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That is a sentiment shared by millions of Americans struggling to get into starter homes, make rent, or upscale or downsize as the country prepares for the 2024 general election. Although concerns about inflation, food and gas prices are top of voters’ minds, housing is another pain point contributing to unease about the economy.
According to the national real estate brokerage company Redfin, about 53% of homeowners and renters said in February that the cost of housing will impact their pick for president.
“For so many Americans, the rest of the economy is doing well,” Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather said. “But people still feel like they aren’t economically successful. They can’t own a home, and homeownership is more unaffordable than it’s ever been.”
The issue has been noticed in the White House, where President Joe Biden has made housing a priority as he eyes a second term and prepares to go head-to-head in a debate this Thursday with former president Donald Trump in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Trump has said he would tackle the housing shortage by cutting energy costs and interest rates to fuel the construction of new homes. Recently, his campaign has blamed illegal immigration for contributing to the high cost of housing, claiming people living in the country without permission are making the housing shortage worse.
Regardless of Trump’s position, the poor perception of the economy and the high cost of housing could imperil incumbents. But Biden’s message on housing affordability, which includes building more homes and providing relief to first-time buyers and renters, is likely to resonate with those down-ballot races in the battleground state of Georgia, according to Jonesboro Democrat and State Senator Gail Davenport.
Davenport is running unopposed this year in a redrawn district that includes parts of Clayton and Henry counties. But she says she often gets calls from voters shaken by rising home and rent prices.
“A lot of people don’t want to say it but it’s a housing crisis,” she said. “Everything out there is $300,000 or $350,000. A lot of people see that as not being affordable.”
‘We’re stuck’
After years of inertia, conservative lawmakers have joined liberals at the national, state and local levels in recognizing there is a housing affordability crisis and are doing something about it. And for the first time in decades, housing could be a major issue during a presidential campaign.
In Georgia, housing advocates have often lamented the slow progress made on safe and affordable housing. But this year, Gov. Brian Kemp …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
