Kamala Harris is on yet another whirlwind campaign, trying to rally support for her White House bid with grand promises and lofty rhetoric. But, as is often the case with Harris, there seems to be a glaring disconnect between her words and the reality on the ground. One might think that, given her current position of power, she’d focus on making these grand changes now, rather than using them as empty campaign promises for another term. But no, here we are, watching her tour the country, dangling the carrot of a better tomorrow if only we give her four more years.
This week, Harris decided to tackle the housing crisis—a crisis that, by the way, her administration has played no small part in creating. She boldly pledged to build three million homes over the next four years, as if that number would magically solve the problem. “My mother saved for years to buy a home. I was a teenager when that day finally came—I remember how excited she was,” Harris wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Right now, home ownership is out of reach for too many Americans. When I am President, we will end the housing shortage by building 3 million homes and rentals.”
But here’s the kicker: that lofty goal of three million homes? It’s actually less than what the United States is already building. Currently, the country is churning out 1.4 million homes a year, which totals up to almost double what Harris is proposing. So, in essence, her big plan would actually mean slowing down housing production, not speeding it up. And that’s coming from an administration under which housing starts have already taken a nosedive, reaching lows not seen since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
To put it in perspective, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, single-family new home starts, which made up 66.8% of total home starts in 2023, fell by 6% from the previous year to 944,500 units. Meanwhile, multi-family starts dropped by 14.4% to 468,600 units. Looking ahead, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) expects 2024 to be another down year, with total housing starts predicted to decrease by 3.4% to 1.37 million units. So much for building more homes, Kamala.
One has to wonder, with promises that seem to defy basic math and a track record that’s less than stellar, how Harris still manages to have any supporters at all. Then again, it might not be about the substance for some—it’s all about the promises, even if they’re as hollow as the ones that got us here in the first place.
Ultimately, the real question is: what kind of influence could Harris actually wield if given another term? Based on her current performance, it’s hard to see how four more years would lead to anything other than more of the same—unfulfilled promises and a nation left waiting for real solutions.
