Kamala Harris Could Be the First YIMBY President

COMMENTARY

Vice President Kamala Harris has a plan to make life more affordable for American families. That’s no surprise, given that the high cost of living is a major voting issue in a very close presidential election. 

But what is surprising — and exciting — about Harris’ platform is how she’s leaning into supply-side progressivism to bring down costs through abundance. She gets it: We have to become a society that builds. We have to embrace a “Yes in My Backyard” housing policy — not to mention energy, health care and child care.

For the Americans who worry about affording a house or covering the next electricity bill, Harris’ “opportunity economy” platform should be cause for celebration. 

Americans consistently tell pollsters that inflation is their top economic concern. It’s the top issue for swing-state voters — outranking immigration, election integrity and even taxes. Unsurprisingly, the economy was the first topic raised at the only debate thus far between the presidential hopefuls. 

For her part, Harris shared a vision of abundant housing, health care, child care and energy.

Her housing plan calls for the construction of 3 million new units over four years — an ambitious attempt to curb rising housing costs, which have consistently increased faster than median wages. With nearly all 50 states underproducing housing, Harris is right to focus on increasing the housing supply to revive America’s affordable neighborhoods. 

Harris is also calling to build a better safety net for kids through an expanded child tax credit and affordable, high-quality child care. She’s staunchly defended the Affordable Care Act, which keeps 45 million Americans insured. A Harris administration may also look at ways to build the health care workforce, like enabling telemedicine and making it easier for foreign-trained doctors to practice in the United States. 

On energy, Harris affirmed her support for natural gas production, embracing an “all-of-the-above” approach to making America an energy superpower. While her production goals are a great start, Harris will also want to look at permitting reform to accelerate transmission, which remains the Achilles’ heel of energy efficiency and affordability.  

Harris also isn’t afraid of globalization and recognizes that healthy global competition can drive down prices for housing construction, green goods like wind turbines, and even vital products like baby formula. 

In contrast, former President Donald Trump — the self-appointed “Tariff Man” — has proposed new taxes on everything from foreign washing machines to solar panels. To be clear, the proposed tariffs will do nothing to reduce the cost of living but would instead make the problem worse. Trump’s tariffs are not the silver bullet he thinks they are. In reality, he’s shooting us all in the foot. 

For his part, Trump and his right-wing allies aren’t the only ones espousing wrong-headed solutions to cost-of-living issues. Democrats often get it wrong as well. Price controls and demand subsidies, while enticing, are not the answer. 

The truth is that you can’t redistribute your way out of a shortage. It’s ineffective, and politically unpopular to boot. 

Luckily, Democrats have a nominee who sees growth as a catalyst for progressivism, rather than an inhibitor of it, a nominee who is not just a YIMBY on housing, but a YIMBY on lots of policies, and most importantly of all, a YIMBY on the American Dream.

Gary Winslett, Ph.D., is an associate professor and director of the International Politics and Economics Program at Middlebury College. Winslett is a senior advisor to Chamber of Progress, a center-left industry coalition, where he wrote the Democratic Cost of Living Agenda. He can be found here.