The lack of affordable housing in the U.S. should be a top priority for any incoming administration. Where’s the discussion?

Housing never surfaced as a major concern at the Republican National Convention. While affordable housing is a plank of the 2016 Republican Party platform—or “responsible homeownership and rental opportunities” is, anyway—the subject didn’t get much lip service in any of the tentpole talks during the Cleveland convention.  

Affordable housing may not get much more play at the Democratic National Convention, which opened Monday in Philadelphia. No doubt, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro would have made housing a big deal, but the White House banned members of the cabinet from addressing the DNC. So, no dice. Certainly, Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s pick for vice president, could talk about his time as an attorney for Housing Opportunities Made Equal, where he represented African-American renters who were discriminated against based on their race.

But Senator Kaine may not speak to those experiences at the DNC. As a vice presidential candidate, he has to address national security, healthcare, jobs, the budget, gridlock, and several other issues. Housing may not pop up at all when he speaks, which is likely to be on Wednesday.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats are all that eager to put affordable housing up front as an issue at their national conventions. This is a surprise in at least two respects: Democrats and Republicans broadly disagree about what to do about housing, but have policy solutions in mind that are close to their respective ideological solutions. More importantly, Americans overwhelmingly want to hear about these solutions.

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