Redfin recently conducted a survey of homeowners nationwide, finding that, while the majority of those polled (63%) believe the election won’t have any impact on the housing market, 27% fear a negative impact and 10% believe there will be a positive impact. When it comes to actual policy, there’s a stark difference between the candidates: Secretary Clinton has provided extensive proposals on her website, while Mr. Trump is much quieter. So while our first stop was always the Trump campaign website, when the details were scant (most of the time), we headed to the Republican party platform to get an idea of where he stands.

Because this is the United States in 2016 (and for the sake of brevity) I’ve only outlined the positions of the two candidates from the major parties—apologies to the Steiners and Johnsonites. And, in the interest of fairness, I have tried to make this guide as unrigged as possible: it’s all directly translated from official party websites and platforms, as well as a few public statements. Sorry if a word or two belies my objectivity—I really did try my hardest. 

In general, while the Clinton campaign, which represents the incumbent party, tends towards the affirmative, the Republican party platform leans critical.

Happy hunting!

Secretary Clinton pledges to devote $25 billion to a housing investment program—part of her $125 billion Economic Revitalization Initiative—building on Obama’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Choice Neighborhoods and the Hardest Hit Fund. In a dedicated factsheet, her campaign says she will increase incentives for new affordable housing developments. She also wants to “remove barriers to sustainable homeownership” by providing funding to match up to $10,000 for down payments by working families trying to buy a first home. But, as the 2008 financial crash proved, potential homeowners aren’t necessarily appraised of the risks of taking on loans. So the Clinton campaign states that she will support counseling programs for potential borrowers. Alongside this, she plans to improve credit-testing tools to better assess credit risk, and give government agencies that support mortgage lending 90 days to present plans that clarify their lending requirements.Secretary Clinton pledges to devote $25 billion to a housing investment program

The Clinton campaign gets a bit more vague when it states that she’ll defend the Consumer Financial Protection bureau, enforce "fair housing", and keep an eye on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other lenders. They say she’ll try to revitalize economies of low-income areas and “strengthen programs that give families a choice in where they live”. The campaign also states that she’ll defend the current supply of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, as well as push for additional credits (to be allocated through a “competitive process” between cities and states that “are in the best position to use them effectively”). Secretary Clinton pledges to encourage better land-use strategies through her infrastructure bank (more on that below) and competitive grants programs. Her campaign promises to reduce LGBTQ+ youth homelessness. She has stated that she will “crack down” on the sharing economy.

Many other aspects of her housing policy are tethered to economic policies and poverty reduction, which can be read here and here, respectively.

The Trump campaign doesn’t have a specific, stated housing plan—at least on his website—but it does note, under issues Mr. Trump plans to address, that the U.S. homeownership rate has fallen to 62.9%. The Republican Party’s official 2016 platform contains eleven references to ‘housing’ and a significant amount of criticism towards existing policies. It states that the financial crisis was caused by government housing policies, and the Obama administration’s response was creating new “unaccountable bureaucracies” and “central planning of our financial sector,” which have failed to create jobs.the Republican platform recommends scaling back the role of the federal government in the housing market

The Republican platform notes that, following the Great Recession, the federal government bailed out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, “the latter managed and controlled by senior officials from the Carter and Clinton Administrations”. To address the large shift from homeownership to renting (and sky-high rents) that have marked the past few years, the Republican platform recommends scaling back the role of the federal government in the housing market, promoting responsibility on the part of both lenders and borrowers, and avoiding future bailouts. They criticize, in particular, environmental regulations on development.

The 2016 Republican party platform asserts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a “corrupt business model” and that Democrats have prevented reforms. A future Republican administration would review the viability of both agencies, as well as clear the “jumble of subsidies and controls” that make home-buying complicated and difficult. They assert that the Federal Housing Administration should not support high-income individuals, or expose the public to financial risks. They will end lending quotas for specific groups, which they argue amounts to discrimination. The platform contends that the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation allows the federal government to take away zoning management from local governments in order to “socially engineer” the American citizenry. The Republican party is pro-sharing economy.

Secretary Clinton has made infrastructural investment a central element of her campaign, and promises to work to pass her infrastructure plan within her first 100 days in office. In a dedicated factsheet, her campaign notes that federal infrastructural investment is currently about half of what it was thirty-five years ago, and that the “infrastructure gap” registers in the trillions of dollars. The plans notes many aspects of American infrastructure that are in poor condition or failing, as well as the economic cost this has. Additionally, the factsheet acknowledges the widespread impact of climate change on infrastructure, and the importance of infrastructural investment in mitigating its effects.Secretary Clinton has made infrastructure investments a central element of her campaign

The Clinton campaign plans to spend $275 billion on a five-year plan to “rebuild our infrastructure”, asserting that it will create 13,000 jobs for every $1 billion invested, and dramatically boost the GDP. This would be paid for through business tax reforms. Clinton’s plan would allocate the majority of funds—$250 billion—to direct public investment, and the other $25 billion to a “national infrastructure bank”, “dedicated to advancing our competitive advantage for the 21st century economy”. The bank would leverage its funds to provide up to $500 billion in federally-supported investments in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and other forms of credit enhancement. The bank would also renew and expand the Build American Bonds program, which was created by President Obama. The plan calls for fostering private partnerships. The plan would also include “cutting through red tape”.

Specifically, the Clinton infrastructure plan would invest in ports, airports, roads, and waterways “to address the key chokepoints for the movement of goods in our economy”. Additionally, it would provide broadband to all American households and create smart cities, through implementing the Internet of Things in infrastructural development. It also would invest in the energy grid, which includes smart roads and new energy sources. The Clinton campaign proposes cutting the “pothole tax” and expand public transit options. The factsheet states that “we are a connected nation” (in terms of infrastructure and its economic importance) and therefore calls for a national freight investment program to improve efficiency. The campaign argues for a faster, safer, and higher capacity rail system, as well as expanding access to safe drinking water and working wastewater systems (referencing, in particular, the California drought). It also calls for modernizing dams and levees.

There’s more here.

Up until this weekend (seriously, someone must have tipped them off about this article), the Trump campaign website did not clearly describe its policies towards infrastructure, besides in regards to energy (which will be covered under ‘Environment’ below). Now, there’s a dedicated page on Trump's site, which lists, among other things, an “America’s Infrastructure First” policy to support domestic infrastructure needs, including transportation, clean water, the electric grid, telecommunications, and security infrastructure. The site calls for building with American steel, and a “deficit-neutral system of infrastructure tax credits” to encourage private investments. The campaign supports approving coal and shale energy projects, specifically pipelines. Additionally, it calls for improving airports, incorporating new technologies into transportation systems, reducing “red tape”, and making clean water a priority.Republicans reject attempts to “coerce people out of their cars”.

The Republican national platform asserts that the Obama administration subordinates “civil engineering to social engineering as it pursues an exclusively urban vision of dense housing and government transit”. While describing them as “worthwhile”, the platform states that mass transit, bike-share programs, sidewalks, historical renovations, landscaping, recreational trails, ferries, scenic byways, and education initiatives should not be given funds from the Highway Trust Fund. Republicans reject attempts to “coerce people out of their cars”. They will remove barriers to public-private partnerships for road and bridge improvements. They oppose an increase to a federal gas tax. They propose phasing out the federal transit program and provisions of the National Policy act, arguing they delay and make costlier transportation projects.

The Republican national platform calls for repealing the Davis-Bacon act (1931), which mandates local prevailing wages for public works laborers and mechanics. Additionally, it rejects the right to unionization for Transportation Security Administration employees. “TSA employees should always be seen as guardians of the public’s safety, not as just another part of the federal workforce,” the platform reads. They rail against Amtrak (sorry, had to) and argue for private transit ventures across the country. They oppose California’s high-speed train.

The Clinton campaign has separate sections of their website devoted to climate change and protecting animals and wildlife. Secretary Clinton acknowledges that climate change is real, man-made, and an “urgent threat”. The campaign proposes addressing climate change by “making America the world’s clean energy superpower”. It pledges that, on day one, a President Clinton would set 10-year goals that would include: generating enough renewable energy to power every home in the country; half a billion solar panels installed by the end of her first term; cutting energy waste by a third; reducing oil consumption by a third. “Hillary’s plan will deliver on the pledge President Obama made at the Paris climate conference—without relying on climate deniers in Congress to pass new legislation,” the campaign states. “She will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 percent in 2025 relative to 2005 levels and put the country on a path to cut emissions more than 80 percent by 2050.”Secretary Clinton acknowledges that climate change is real, man-made, and an “urgent threat”

Among many proposals related to climate change, the Clinton campaign wants to launch a $60 billion “Clean Energy Challenge”, which would involve the federal government partnering with local governments and states to cut carbon pollution. They pledge to “ensure the fossil fuel production taking place today is safe and responsible”, while expanding leasing of public lands for clean energy production. Secretary Clinton proposes cutting subsidies for oil and gas companies. She proposes new standards to reduce methane emissions. Her plan aims to help coal communities by supporting locally-driven priorities. Additionally, the campaign pledges to clean up the more than 450,000 toxic brownfield sites in the United States. It will create an “Environmental and Climate Justice Task Force”. (All this comes from bullet points, and each proposal has an extended factsheet of its own).

The Clinton campaign website states, “The way our society treats animals is a reflection of our humanity.” Secretary Clinton promises to not privatize public lands. She argues for combating international wildlife trafficking, protecting domesticated animals and livestock, and even ending “the practice of horse soring, in which chemicals or other inhumane methods are applied to horses’ limbs to exaggerate their gait.”

Mr. Trump does not reference climate change or the environment on his website. He is a climate change denier and has called it a “Chinese hoax”. He has called for dismantling the Paris Agreement and stopping payment of U.S. tax dollars of any U.N. global warming-related initiatives. Yet, Mr. Trump has stated that clean water is among the most important issues that America faces and believes in keeping public lands public. In the “energy” section of the Trump campaign website, they pledge to conserve natural habitats, reserves and resources, as well as protect clean water and air. Simultaneously, they propose tapping America’s $50 trillion in shale, oil and natural gas reserves—as well as “clean coal”—in order to “declare American energy dominance”. The campaign stresses energy independence, particularly from the “OPEC cartel”— or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, an international governmental organization comprising oil-rich countries primarily located in South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The campaign calls for opening onshore and offshore federal lands for leasing. They intend to repeal all “job-destroying Obama executive actions” related to energy production, in order to create an alleged half million jobs a year, $30 billion in higher wages, and cheaper energy. Mr. Trump has stated that his opponent will “shut down energy production across this country”. Mr. Trump is in favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline (Secretary Clinton opposes it, although she used to support it).Mr. Trump is a climate change denier and has called it a “Chinese hoax”

The Republican party platform states, “Conservation is inherent to conservatism”, with a reference to “God-given natural beauty”. They state that private ownership, rather than government control, guarantees environmental protection. The platform denigrates the “environmental establishment” for relying on “shoddy science, scare tactics, and centralized command-and-control”. The Republican party contends that the environment has been improving for years. They argue for transferring public land control to states and opening them for hunting and fishing. The platform argues that the Endangered Species Act has “stunted economic development”, while stating that some species should be protected from extinction. It questions the science behind climate change and asserts that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a “political mechanism”. The Republican party rejects the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. 

If you want to find out more about Clinton's and Trump’s positions, head over to their websites here and here. The Republican party platform is available here, and the Democratic platform is here. As this round-up shows, the difference between the candidates on issues pertaining to the built environment is quite stark. To be honest, if you still can’t decide which candidate best represents your views, you may or not be an actual unicorn. Or, of course, you find neither of them represents you—in which case you may actually be in the majority (or not). Regardless, I think we can all come together to breathe a sigh of relief that this will all be over very very soon.

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This feature is part of Archinect's October theme, XXL. For more big-scale projects—like infrastructure, or the democratic experiment—check out other features here.