Last night, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took the stage for their first—and possibly only—debate before the 2024 presidential election takes place.
The debate, hosted by ABC News and moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, covered a variety of topics, including the economy, health care, immigration, Russia/Ukraine, abortion and foreign policy, among others.
Despite housing affordability being a key issue for 80% of American voters, a debate topic tracker from NBC News shows that housing was only discussed for 42 seconds of the 90-minute debate. Each time, Harris brought up the topic. While both candidates delved deeper into broader economic issues and inflation—factors closely tied to housing affordability—the specific focus on housing itself remained minimal.
Byron Lazine, co-founder of BAM, reviewed debate remarks about housing and shared key takeaways during today’s Hot Sheet:
Below, we share the transcript of responses (and preceding questions) regarding housing and homeownership.
Housing Remarks During the Harris vs. Trump Presidential Debate
Question from Moderator (06:23)
“So let’s get started. I want to begin tonight with the issue that voters repeatedly say is their number one issue and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country. Vice President Harris, you and President Trump were elected four years ago and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were four years ago when it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”
Response from Vice President Kamala Harris (06:46)
“So I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.
“Here’s the thing: we know that we have a shortage of homes and housing and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children…”
Question from Moderator (36:57)
“Let me continue on immigration. It was what you wanted to talk about earlier. So let’s get back to your deportation proposal that the vice president has reacted to as well. President Trump, you call this the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country. You say you would use the National Guard, you say if things get out of control, you’d have no problem using the US military…You also said you would use local police.
“How would you deport 11 million undocumented immigrants? I know you believe that number is much higher. Take us through this. What does this look like? Will authorities be going door to door in this country?”
Response from Harris (after Former President Trump’s response) (39:49)
“So let’s talk about what is important in this race. It is important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for, address what we must do to support our small businesses address bringing down the price of groceries. But frankly, the American people are exhausted with this same old tired playbook…”
Question from Moderator (42:45)
“Vice President Harrison, in your last run for president, you said you wanted to ban fracking. Now you don’t. You wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don’t. You supported decriminalizing border crossings. Now you’re taking a harder line. I know you say that your values have not changed. So then why have so many of your policy positions changed?”
Partial Response from Harris (43:06)
“So my values have not changed, and I’m going to discuss at least every point that you’ve made. But in particular, let’s talk about fracking because we’re here in Pennsylvania. I made that very clear. In 2020, I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States. And in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking. My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy. So we reduce our reliance on foreign oil. We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil as it relates to my values. Lemme tell you, I grew up a middle-class kid raised by a hardworking mother who worked and saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager.
“The values I bring to the importance of homeownership, knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times, is a value that I bring to my work to say we are going to work with the private sector and homebuilders to increase 3 million homes, increase by 3 million homes by the end of my first term…”
Partial Response from Harris (after Trump’s response to a question) (01:29:17)
“Let’s talk about our plans and let’s compare the plans. I have a plan to give startup businesses $50,000 tax deduction to pursue their ambitions, their innovation, their ideas, their hard work. I have a plan $6,000 for young families for the first year of your child’s life to help you in that most critical stage of your child’s development. I have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American dream by offering a help with down payment of $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time home buyers.”
Question from Moderator (01:36:13)
“We have another issue that we’d like to get to that’s important for a number of Americans in particular younger voters, and that’s climate change. President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change and existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change and Vice President Harris, we’ll start with you one minute for you each.”
Partial Response from Harris: (01:36:36)
“Well, the former president had said the climate change is a hoax. And what we know is that it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences, who now is either being denied home insurance or it’s being jacked up, you ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We know that we can actually deal with this issue..”
Watch the debate in full here.
