How Would Hillary Clinton’s view on housing affect the real estate climate?

As the 2016 presidential race intensifies, candidates’ views on and solutions for big issues are beginning to take form. But there is still one looming topic that has not hit the table during debates: housing. While candidates have been urged to talk about affordable housing, how it affects the economy and what they’re going to do about it, the topic seems to remain the elephant in the room. And here’s why.

The housing issue in the U.S. is complex with a myriad of problems affecting both homeowners and renters. The topic does not have a clear central focus nor does it draw support from an ultimate policy or unified housing authority. The fact that the subject has not been addressed could mean two things. One, candidates could be unsettled by the scope of the housing problem and therefore not know how to attack it. Or two, they simply are not aware of how big the housing crisis is or how deeply connected it is with other sectors of the economy.

The fact is, the housing issue does reach into every corner of the economy. With half of Americans dedicating over 30 percent of their income to housing, the financial burden leaks over into every other area of the economy. When people have to spend a disproportionate amount of their income on only one big aspect of their budget, housing, the entire flow of the economy changes.

In terms of solutions, some believe that the only way to make housing more affordable for people is to grow the economy and provide more jobs and higher incomes. But there is a conflict between those who believe that the government should play a major role in affordable housing, and those who believe the housing problem should be resolved by the private sector. The problem is, candidates are not speaking up about it either way.

The New Hampshire Housing Summit in October took on the topic of the housing shortage for low-and-middle-income Americans. But in attendance were only six candidates, no top contenders included. Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is one of the many candidates who did not attend nor has she verbally acknowledged the housing crisis directly. But her adopted hometown, Chappaqua, recently became ground zero for President Barack Obama’s affordable housing plans. Taking roots in 2013, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) plan has been eerily quiet until recently. Clinton’s current hometown is the first that the federal government has grabbed a hold of and demanded the building of 750 affordable housing units, 630 of them in the wealthiest district of the city.

Simply put, the AFFH gives the federal government the approval to re-engineer neighborhoods across the nation in an attempt to achieve economic residential integration. Motives for the plan are expressed to increase access to not only affordable housing, but good jobs, schools, transportation and healthcare that would otherwise not be available in areas that low-income people are living in. But Obama’s affordable housing is quickly proving that the ends are not justifying the means. The federal government is imposing a racial and ethnic composition, densifying housing and pulling authority away from local governments and zoning laws, essentially taking away their power of self-governance, in order to create “ideal” neighborhoods.

To enforce the new regulations, Obama appointed secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Julian Castro. Enter again, Hillary Clinton.

HUD secretary Julian Castro has been boasted as the next vice presidential running mate for Clinton. So the question at hand is if Clinton will stand by her adopted hometown of Chappaqua, against the federal government’s strong hand, as well as her future running mate? Or will she join hands with Castro and Congress and walk into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to steer the AFFH? As Chappaqua is the epicenter of the new “fair housing” regulations, whichever avenue Clinton decides to take will be a highly public one.

While the housing issue has taken a backseat to other topics on the campaign trail, it is only a matter of time before the silence is broken around the AFFH. And once that happens, all candidates will be forced to take a side on the issue. And Clinton’s stance on housing could ultimately decide the fate of the housing issue for all Americans. The big question at hand is exactly how low-income subsidized housing could affect surrounding residential and commercial real estate values? In other words, if Clinton’s view on housing coincides with that of Congress and Castro, how will it directly affect the real estate climate?

The next housing forum for presidential candidates will be on January 20, 2016 when the National Association of Homebuilders and National Journal host, “Building Opportunity: Solutions for the American Dream,” in Las Vegas.

Nav Athwal is the Founder and CEO of RealtyShares.com, an online crowdfunding for real estate marketplace connecting individual and institutional investors to private real estate opportunities nationwide.  Nav started his career as an electrical engineer, before transitioning into real estate law where he worked as a Real Estate and Land Use Attorney at Farella Braun & Martel, LLP. As an attorney, he led some of the largest mixed-use residential, commercial and renewable energy real estate projects in California on behalf of National and International clients including public REIT’s real estate developers, property owners, investors, non-profit housing providers and government agencies.