Housing

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Increased mortgage rates among average households

By forcing the national debt down, interest rates should readjust back to 'normal' levels.

By increasing the availability of houses, mortgage rates and rental rates will lower.

Private Equity Firms

When a business type, product, etc becomes harmful to the nation, it falls to the government (as a representative of the people) to step in and regulate. Private Equity Firms have shown they can be very harmful to the citizens of this nation. When used appropriately, the firms can assist a business and make a strong investment. But enough firms have undermined businesses and rental properties to the point that the government needs to step in to stop the harmful business practices being performed.

Availability (Landlords)

There are two concerns with availability to increase the supply side of housing, building new homes and businesses or individuals who own multiple homes as a rental property. Ending tax deductions not associated with a primary residence will assist with those individuals trying to own multiple rental properties. Any individual who owns residential properties beyond a primary residence makes the extra properties a business or superfluous expense, and these properties should be treated as such.

Landlord registries: every business owner must be registered with the government. States should have list of all homes, who they are owned by, what they are rented at, and allow state inspectors to ensure the laws are being followed at these business locations. Landlord/property owner lobbies fight constantly against registries that ensure they are being tracked and they follow the laws. (This is a basic step that must be completed as they are businesses. We track and regulate restaurants, so we should do it for landlords as well, especially since it is a limited commodity. Most are likely doing it to avoid taxation (renting at higher costs to pocket extra cash) otherwise they should allow viewing of their financial books.) These registrations can even be given a letter grade based on their inspections, similar to a restaurant that must follow a health code. These letter grades can be displayed on the owners site if it is a complex (hotel, motel, etc) or if it is used as a shorter time period (bed and breakfast, Airbnb), and it should be displayed on their professional sites (Zillow, Apartments, etc). Just like a restaurant that is shut down if they fail to maintain a specific grade for health and safety, their homes will be shut down for use as a business.

Availability (Building New Homes)

Governors and "Head of State Housing" legislators need to restrict superfluous regulations when it comes to housing development. Communication with them to remove building codes that encourage entitlements only to the rich (like refusing the splitting of a home into a duplex, inability to tear down existing family homes to create an apartment complex or a group of condos) will encourage quick access to additional houses in already urban areas. As long as the regulations are not specifically for health and safety, but instead are there to force large and expensive homes to be built, they are there to hinder the next generation from purchasing houses where they are needed. It should not be the next generations wages that pay for the past generations wealthy lifestyle.

At the federal level, an increase in financing to develop affordable housing can assist. After the houses are built, demand-side items can be implemented for specific housing and reductions (vouchers and cash benefits). This will guarantee the homes go to where they are needed. The downside with this portioning is that this won't provide housing for the very poorest since it isn't economical for developers to build homes for profit. This is where government support should come in with vouchers to meet the housing cost gap. Maxing these vouchers should come AFTER building affordable housing.

The federal government should offer a financial assistance to each state to build new homes where they are needed most. This money should be given easily, and tracked relentlessly at each step. Any state that fails to use the money for this specific purpose should be forced to give the money back. The states that successfully pass inspections of the new homes, and the states that build these successful homes the fastest, should be given additional financial assistance. This bonus assistance will act as an incentive to spend the money and build the homes faster, which will help create immediate assistance in home availability. However, this government assistance can't come until after the National Debt is paid down to an appropriate level again.

Look into SELAH, a Los Angeles program to reduce homelessness that notably worked well, to try and nationalize or at least expand what works to other cities.