Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Says Next President Must Make ‘Bold Investment’ in Housing

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is considered a likely contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, is urging his party to center housing policy in the coming elections.

In a round of weekend interviews, Beshear said Democrats need to emphasize housing affordability as they prepare to field candidates for president in 2028. Although speculation has swirled that he will mount a presidential bid, Beshear said he has made no decisions.

Housing-related promises are nothing new during campaigns. Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris had dueling ideas for how to boost affordability for homebuyers.

While Trump floated a wide variety of ideas, from changes to the 401(k) account to new tax incentives, he ultimately pursued lower interest rates and restrictions on institutional investors in the housing market.

Still, affordability has been the buzzword of the year for both Democrats and Republicans. The two parties passed the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act, though its provisions will take years to ramp up.

"There's a chance for the next presidential administration or the next Congress to make a big, bold investment in housing that could have us building millions of units all over the United States," Beshear told Axios.

He later told the outlet the government should also invest in housing production, though he did not specifically outline the kinds of programs he'd want to see. But he called for deadlines to use or lose federal dollars, in order to speed production of homes and break up logjams at the local level.

Kentucky has a shortage of both affordable and rental housing statewide, according to the Kentucky Housing Corp. That shortage is expected to expand especially for middle incomes to a shortage of 287,000 rental and for-sale units by 2029.

Dueling ideas

Beshear, who is on a book tour, touted other familiar Democratic attack lines. On "The View" on Monday morning, Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, called for more guardrails on artificial intelligence. And in an interview with CBS that ran on Sunday morning, he also criticized Trump's tariffs for driving up costs.

Democrats have pushed forward a number of bills in Congress aimed at those priorities. They include different levels of additional A.I. regulation and a moratorium on new data centers.

Several Democratic lawmakers have also pitched a bill to allow exemptions from tariffs for building materials. Another bill would invoke the Defense Production Act to give the government some power to spur more homebuilding. Those ideas haven't advanced.

The House, though, was able to pass a bill aimed at preventing electric companies from raising electric bills to keep up with new data center construction.

Republican presumptive presidential candidates have been honing their message on housing ahead of the official campaign, as well.

Vice President J.D. Vance has in recent months defended the Trump administration's immigration policy for removing international people from the housing market.

At least one paper from the Dallas Fed has tied illegal immigration to home price growth. But other sources argue Trump's immigration crackdown has had other negative effects.