Calls for more housing at the DNC
Obama and Kamala Harris: build, baby, build
At last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, watched by 26 million people, both Obama and Kamala Harris explicitly called for more housing.
We have a different task. Our job is to convince people that democracy can actually deliver. And, and in doing that, we can’t just point to what we’ve already accomplished. We can’t just rely on the ideas of the past. We need to chart a new way forward to meet the challenges of today. And Kamala understands this. She knows, for example, that if we want to make it easier for more young people to buy a home, we need to build more units and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that made it harder to build homes for working people in this country. That is a priority. And she’s put out a bold new plan to do just that.
In practical terms, the November 5 election is still 50/50. But this may help to strengthen the pro-supply narrative (“thought leadership”), helping to persuade state- and municipal-level Democratic politicians to do the right thing.
Matthew Yglesias on Obama’s message:
Obama is saying here that he (like, according to him, Kamala Harris) is not a dogmatic leftist who thinks the answer to every problem is more taxes, more spending, and more regulation. He acknowledges that in some cases, we need less regulation. Not because he’s a dogmatic libertarian, but because the laws restricting housing supply are “outdated” and “we need to chart a new way forward to meet the challenges of today.”
Leftists like to say that Obama’s political appeal is just his charisma, but I think a big part of that charisma is that he portrays himself as a thoughtful person who is capable of independent cognitive function and policy analysis. And he wants Harris to portray herself the same way. After all, if we’re talking about the cost of living, it’s probably going to occur to at least some voters in Nevada and Arizona and Georgia that the cost of living is a lot higher in California and New York, and maybe they’ll think Democrats are just bad at addressing cost of living issues. Showing awareness that there are, perhaps, some flawed policies in place that need to be corrected shows that you’re a sensible person who can be trusted with political power.
More
Full acceptance speech by Kamala Harris. Commentary by Nate Silver.
Darrell Owens, Why Kamala Is Talking About Housing.
Matthew Yglesias, The promise and peril of Obama's YIMBY turn.
Jerusalem Demsas on Twitter, summarizing the connection between YIMBYism and prohibitions on infill housing for in-demand neighbourhoods.
A more skeptical view: Christian Britschgi, YIMBYs' Premature Victory Dance at the DNC.
"We are only the most powerful people in the world, won't somebody come rescue us with more housing?"
Hell, my cat can "call" for more housing, wake me when they announce something they can do.