![AP logo](https://cdn.abcotvs.net/abcotv/static/common/origins/origin-ap.png)
Vance presented an unusual portrait of the housing affordability crisis
The Ohio senator mentioned speaking with someone who wondered if they would ever be able to buy a house. Vance then blamed the housing crisis on "Wall Street barons," who crashed the economy, causing workers who built houses to lose their jobs and wages to stagnate. Then, he contended, Democrats let millions of illegal immigrants into the country, further increasing home prices.
But the housing affordability crisis has skyrocketed under Biden not for any of those reasons, but because interest rates have risen sharply along with inflation. Home prices were high under the prior three presidents, but low interest rates kept mortgage rates down, and homes therefore still within reach for many, especially in places like Vance's home state of Ohio.
Now those mortgage rates have increased exponentially, putting previously costly but still affordable homes well out of the reach of most prospective first-time buyers. It's one of Biden's most intractable problems.