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State officials are attempting to address voters’ worries about the rising cost of living, including housing and everyday items such as groceries, utilities and child care.<\/p>\n
As governors give their annual state of the state speeches, many of them are designing their messages to speak to constituents’ concerns about affordability<\/a>.<\/p>\n Because the issue is so broad, there are a lot of things governors can try. But for the same reason, there’s no one policy that’s likely to bridge the gap between stagnated wages and expenses that are growing for many people.<\/p>\n Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for example, wants to send $300 relief checks to 725,000 residents. Others are imposing caps on utility hikes or calling for easier ways to build more housing.<\/p>\n The idea of improving affordability was at the heart of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s campaign<\/a> last year, and it’s resonating nationally. <\/p>\n About half of U.S. adults \u2013 54% \u2013 said the cost of groceries was a \u201cmajor source\u201d of stress in their lives, according to an AP-NORC poll from October. At least 4 in 10 said the cost of housing, their savings, their pay, and the cost of health care were \u201cmajor\u201d sources of stress in that poll.<\/p>\n AP-NORC polling from December found about 9 in 10 U.S. adults said they had experienced higher prices than usual for groceries in recent months, and about 7 in 10 said that about electricity.<\/p>\n The government’s main measure of inflation shows that average annual prices rose by less than 3% from 2012 until 2021, when prices rose sharply. Since the middle of 2023, annual increases have been hovering around 3% \u2014 but price tags are higher than they were before the surge. And some costs \u2014 including electricity and housing \u2014 have risen faster than the average.<\/p>\n Republicans have long prioritized tax cuts as a way to give some people relief. Officials in states including Florida, Georgia and North Dakota are aiming to eliminate property taxes<\/a> for homeowners over time. Kentucky and Mississippi are on long-term paths to get rid of income taxes<\/a>. Critics of those approaches warn that such moves could increase states\u2019 reliance on sales taxes, which disproportionately affect low-income people.<\/p>\n When President Donald Trump was seeking a return to the White House in 2024, he promised to \u201cmake America affordable again\u201d and has recently returned to the theme<\/a>.<\/p>\n But he’s been critical of the way his political opponents talk about affordability, repeatedly calling it a hoax or scam by Democrats<\/a>, whom he blames for higher prices. <\/p>\n That made an opening for Democratic governors to criticize the president as out of touch with everyday Americans without uttering his name.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some who have even called affordability a hoax or a con job,\u201d Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, said in her address. \u201cAnd I would invite them to come to Virginia and engage with the families and the business leaders I have met … because the facts tell a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, all Democrats, have called for multiprong approaches to affordability with a focus on housing.<\/p>\n In her state of the commonwealth speech last month, Healey called for converting empty offices into apartments and using government-owned property to build housing. Hobbs proposed charging a nightly fee on vacation rentals and using the money it generates to help families with housing and utility costs. Newsom told lawmakers they should pass a law to stop institutional investors from buying homes in bulk.<\/p>\n Francis Torres, director of housing and infrastructure projects at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said that some of the most sweeping actions don’t immediately lead to new housing. \u201cThere’s a difference between legalizing housing on paper and the housing actually being built,\u201d he said. And that’s a reason that officials are also trying to offer support with down payments and other methods intended to help in the meantime.<\/p>\n