Mat Despard: Keeping housing affordable

I applaud Gregg Warren and Kevin Campbell’s Dec. 27 Point of View “Our 2 cents on helping the vulnerable” about steps Wake County can take to increase affordable housing stock and for efforts of the organizations they lead, yet steps such as a “penny for housing” general fund program are merely the very least our elected officials can do.

The more significant change we need is at the federal level: lowering the cap on the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction to mortgages of $500,000 and below, which will free up $95 billion over 10 years to be used for a range of affordable housing efforts. The MITD is one of the most egregious forms of tax subsidy that exacerbate income and wealth inequality.

Lowering the MITD cap is a budget-neutral way to re-allocate tax expenditures in a fairer way to promote shared prosperity.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Mat Despard: Keeping housing affordable."