US voters press Congress candidates to fix housing crisis

2/7/2024 19:10

        From suburban New York to rural Montana, candidates for U.S. Congress are getting an earful from voters stressed by stratospheric housing costs, interviews with Democratic and Republican campaigns and Reuters/Ipsos polling showed.
        
        At campaign stops in his New York state district, Democratic U.S. Representative Pat Ryan said in an interview that people regularly complain about having trouble finding a house or apartment they can afford. He is seeking to hold his seat, one of a couple dozen tight races his party must win in the Nov. 5
        elections if it is to capture a majority in the House of Representatives.
        
        "I would say right now ... in the whole region - the Hudson Valley north of New York City - the No. 1 point of economic pain and pressure is housing affordability," said Ryan, who wants money from Democratic President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure law to aid housing construction.
        
        A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll in May found voters rated the scarcity and cost of housing as their second-most important economic worry, after fears of stagnating income and rising prices.