Key facts
- Housing affordability is a pivotal issue in the upcoming midterm races.
- Candidates often highlight cutting red tape and regulations without specific details.
- Populist appeals targeting institutional investors and landlords are common.
- Expanding down-payment assistance and housing subsidies are bipartisan proposals.
Housing affordability has emerged as a critical issue for candidates in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, with many using it as a central theme in their campaigns. Republican candidate Mike Rogers, running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, launched a significant ad buy highlighting the crisis and proposing solutions like training skilled trade workers and reducing bureaucratic hurdles. A July CNBC poll indicated that housing costs are the fourth-most important issue overall for the 2026 election cycle and the top concern for voters under 35.
Candidates from both parties are addressing housing on the campaign trail, proposing a range of solutions that include cutting red tape, boosting construction, restricting institutional investors, and expanding subsidies. While there is broad bipartisan agreement on the existence of a housing shortage, many candidates offer high-level promises rather than detailed policy specifics. For instance, Rogers pledged to make it easier to build homes and cut red tape, while his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, focuses more narrowly on below-market housing.
Populist appeals, such as banning corporations from buying single-family homes and restricting algorithmic rent-setting, are also common. Proposals for expanding down-payment assistance and utilizing college savings plans for home purchases are gaining traction across party lines. However, the gap between broad calls to action and concrete policy proposals remains a point of interest for the homebuilding industry.