As the presidential campaigns gear up over the summer, one topic remains curiously underdiscussed: housing. Despite the ever-worsening crises that continue to afflict renters in the US housing market — from the affordability and tenant rights crises to the homelessness crisis — the subject of housing remains mostly relegated to state and local elections. One exception is President Joe Biden’s call for Congress to pass a national 5 percent rent cap on rental units owned by corporate landlords, which Democratic nominee Kamala Harris echoed at a recent campaign rally in Atlanta. While the mentioning of a rent cap is a significant messaging victory for the tenant movement, the passage of such a proposal would be subject to Congressional approval, which seems unlikely in the current Republican-controlled House.

The political failure to meaningfully discuss and address housing issues is perhaps not surprising given the government’s general deference to real estate interests, largely owing to the fact that the real estate lobby consistently ranks among the country’s biggest political donors. But it is both a major shortcoming within Democratic politics and a missed opportunity. Polling data repeatedly shows widespread popular support for progressive interventions into the housing sector, ranging from rent control measures to public investment in expanding affordable housing, including a public option.

Moreover, a “Swing State Housing Poll” conducted in April by the Center for Popular Democracy Action, Right to the City Action, and HIT Strategies among registered voters in five battleground states — Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania — demonstrates the potential of making housing a key issue in the upcoming election. According to the poll, voters say they experience the cost of rent and housing as being among the least talked-about issues by politicians. Yet roughly 60 percent of voters surveyed — and 82 percent of renters — say that addressing housing costs would significantly improve their lives. For renters, this outperforms all other polled issues, including immigration and crime, which have garnered far more attention in national campaigns.