Yellen announces new home fund amid high housing inflation | Wilnesh News

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday announced a series of new financing initiatives to support housing development, including a $100 million fund dedicated to affordable housing.

this announcement Days before President Joe Biden will face off against former President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate, inflation could be a key point of contention.

Past several inflation reports have shown prices cooling slightly, but housing costs remain high. The June Consumer Price Index showed that the overall inflation rate was flat in May, but the housing inflation rate increased by 0.4%.

As part of the new effort, the Treasury Department will provide $100 million over the next three years to fund affordable housing programs. It also called on several agencies that help finance housing to step up support for new developments.

Yellen will give a formal speech later Monday on Minneapolis’ housing plan. The speech was part of a trip to Minnesota, where she had lunch with CEOs and held a roundtable with the state’s housing officials.

As the president prepares for Thursday’s debate at Camp David, Yellen is one of many Biden Cabinet members touring the country in an effort to advance the president’s economic agenda.

Acting Housing and Urban Development Secretary Adelina Todman and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for example, have been traveling the country to tout Biden’s infrastructure investments.

The economy has proven to be a major sticking point for Biden among voters since the race for the White House has heated up.

The ensuing record inflation, driven by pandemic-era supply chain congestion and labor shortages, is lingering for consumers, who still feel squeezed by higher prices. Polls show many of them blame the sitting president.

Housing costs in particular, which account for the largest portion of consumer spending, remain high even as other industries have cooled.

Biden has sought to place the blame for high housing costs on corporate landlords, accusing them of “rent gouging” that keeps consumer rents artificially high even as their own costs have fallen.

“People are tired of being fooled,” Biden said in March. “I’m tired of letting them be fooled.”

this National Apartment AssociationA major landlord lobby group issued a statement in early June rejecting Biden’s aggressive campaign rhetoric targeting landlords.

“Politics has no place when it comes to housing, and action on housing is long overdue from policymakers,” the organization wrote in a statement. “NAA will continue to support housing providers on the campaign trail in the coming months. ”