CT Public | By: Abigail Brone
With a housing crisis underway, housing affordability in Connecticut and other parts of the country is a major concern among voters.
A recent Gallup poll found that when it comes to financial worries among Americans, housing ranked second on the list, behind inflation.
Agendas proposed by both presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, place housing as a top issue. But housing advocates say that many of the policies that both candidates would like to see in place nationally already exist in Connecticut.
Trump’s housing plans and track record
Trump’s proposed housing policies revolve around cutting taxes and curbing illegal immigration.
Trump’s track record as president included defunding federal housing programs, and ending Obama-era efforts to decrease housing discrimination, according to Sean Ghio, policy director with the Connecticut housing nonprofit Partnership for Strong Communities.
“What we have is a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that’s hostile to its constituents, largely, and I’d expect to see that again,” Ghio said. “And then the nexus between deporting immigrants and housing affordability is lost on me.”
Trump also wants to focus on single-family housing by protecting and expanding exclusionary zoning, which places the power to construct new buildings in the hands of local leaders.