JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday weighed in on affordable housing and inflation in the state as rent and home prices continue to spike.
While speaking in Gainesville, DeSantis blamed the Biden administration and the president’s policies.
His comments come in the middle of one of the highest inflation spikes in the last 40 years. But who is to blame for price hikes in housing, electricity and everyday goods?
Experts said a lot is at play.
I-TEAM: Rent rate hikes as high as $400; residents asking for help
Everything from housing, to vehicles and groceries are costing consumers more money in an economic climate Americans haven’t experienced since the 1970s and 80s.
When asked about affordable housing and Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist’s views on a state trust fund that supports affordable housing, the governor said this about inflation.
“When you have inflation the way you’re doing it because of policies that people like the Congressman have supported with Biden, you know, joined at the hip, that is causing everything to be much more expensive,” DeSantis said. “And so, if you’re going to build an apartment complex, that would be maybe multifamily, the cost of that is now up 30%. And so that’s going to cost more on the back end for people. You also look at what the Biden administration did with CDC, by having this moratorium where they couldn’t, where a lot of the people who own these places couldn’t get access to rent, so what they’re now doing to counteract that , they’re actually raising rents higher than they may have been before.”
News4JAX looked back and found the CDC’s eviction moratorium, which was designed to prevent landlords from evicting their tenants at the onset of the pandemic, took effect in September of 2020 when President Donald Trump was in office. The eviction moratorium was later lifted in July of 2021, under the Biden administration.
I-TEAM: Landlords respond to rising rents, say they are struggling too
Financial expert Joe Krier said this effort and others were both political parties’ attempts at stabilizing the American economy.
“Combination of Democrats and Republicans that voted on stimulus packages, and economic measures throughout history, and the Federal Reserve is a board of bankers that have been nominated by Democrats and Republicans throughout and everybody does the best they can with what they have,” Krier said.
Krier said when it comes to the housing market in Florida, multiple factors have led to skyrocketing prices, including increased demand, not enough homes and record low mortgage rates. Krier said the pandemic also reshaped America’s working force.
“What happened here is productivity has gone up, work at home employment has gone through the roof, and there is a whole other dynamic here, the economy has to adjust to that, and employers are having to pay more money to entice people to come back to a workplace,” he said.
News4JAX also spoke with certified financial planner Titus Pittman, who said the disruption of supply chains during the height of COVID-19 also played a major role.
“It’s not one administration’s fault for that. But if the government did not put together the trillions of dollars of money into the economy to stabilize businesses, then we will be in a dire situation. But because of that, spending, it led to the inflation that we’re seeing now,” Pittman said.
So to DeSantis’ claim that President Biden and his policies are the reason why inflation is on the rise, The News4JAX Trust Index Team gives this claim a “Be Careful.”
Economists said inflation is ultimately the end result of America trying to claw its way out of the coronavirus pandemic.
After reviewing this topic, we've found some issues - Be Careful.