The federal government forgoes around $90 billion a year in revenue for the home interest rate deduction, and the biggest beneficiaries are millionaires.
The mortgage interest rate deduction (MID) was designed, in part, to encourage Americans to buy homes and to help them afford those homes while they are living there, but many of those who receive the deduction could easily afford a home without it. In a piece for Greater Greater Washington, David Meni argues that this money could be better spent on rental assistance to people whose housing is a lot less secure.
"For someone with a $1 million mortgage, the MID means that the federal government gives you back about $22,000 a year — enough to push a family of three above the poverty line," Meni reports. This is because the deduction not the same for all home buyers, it's more for those whose mortgages are bigger. "This means that the MID actually incentives mortgage debt, rather than homeownership — you get a larger benefit if you have a more expensive mortgage," David Meni argues. Many economists argue you could remove the deduction and have zero effect on home ownership, meanwhile rental assistance programs, which get about half as much as MID forgoes, really do keep families in homes.
FULL STORY: We give some millionaires $22k/year in housing assistance. Weird, right?
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.