Can Kamala Harris Learn Housing Lessons from Her Own History?

In a biographical aside in her Thursday night nomination-acceptance speech, Kamala Harris spoke eloquently, and perhaps inadvertently, about “affordable housing” policy. She recalled the neighborhood in the East Bay where her mother rented an apartment:

What she described is exactly the kind of neighborhood we have in mind when we talk about the affordable housing Harris says she favors. But it’s not affordable through subsidy. Its affordability and healthy social fabric are achieved through small, owner-occupied homes on small lots, which create “naturally occurring affordable housing.”

About the Author

Howard Husock

Howard Husock is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of The Projects: A New History of Public Housing.

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In a biographical aside in her Thursday night nomination-acceptance speech, Kamala Harris spoke eloquently, and perhaps inadvertently, about “affordable housing” policy. She recalled the neighborhood in the East Bay where her mother rented an apartment:

What she described is exactly the kind of neighborhood we have in mind when we talk about the affordable housing Harris says she favors. But it’s not affordable through subsidy. Its affordability and healthy social fabric are achieved through small, owner-occupied homes on small lots, which create “naturally occurring affordable housing.”