WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, one in four households is living paycheck to paycheck, and fewer than half of Americans could cover a $1,000 emergency. As families today spend more on housing, energy, health care, and child and elder care, women are particularly concerned about these affordability challenges. To address this, policymakers must develop solutions to counter the structural issues driving up the cost of living.
Today, Independent Women released “Reclaiming Affordability: Winning the Cost War with the Right Solutions,” a new special report on affordability that unpacks policy solutions to address the rising cost of living. The report proposes free-market solutions, including deregulation, pro-growth tax reform, and price transparency to increase supply, reduce costs, and restore the American Dream.
“Affordability is the most pressing issue for Americans, especially women who make the lion’s share of spending decisions in U.S. households,” said Patrice Onwuka, vice president for economic policy at Independent Women and primary author of “Reclaiming Affordability: Winning the Cost War with the Right Solutions.” “This report exposes the poor policy decisions that have distorted markets, discouraged investment, and displaced options, driving down supply and driving up costs. From child care to housing, when we reduce costly and onerous regulations, the private market can innovate, and households will flourish.”
Read the full report here.
As people are voting with their feet and moving toward more affordable states, the report explores the trends in blue states that drive unaffordability, including overregulation and high taxation. The report promotes free enterprise, family-friendly work policies, and low-tax policies as the best solutions to make the American Dream achievable.
Published in the midst of tax season, the report addresses the five key spending areas where women are facing rising costs: housing, energy, health care, child care, and elder care.
HOUSING
Burdensome housing costs place the American Dream out of reach, especially for women, who often take responsibility for managing household finances. In the report, Patrice Onwuka wrote, in part, that “government overregulation is driving housing unaffordability.”
To address the supply-and-demand issue driving up housing prices, Onwuka proposes cutting red tape to cut costs with targeted deregulation and pro-growth tax reforms that can expand the U.S. housing stock of existing and new homes.
ENERGY & UTILITIES
In states managed by Democrats, Americans are facing rising utility and energy bills from green mandates that limit energy production by phasing out coal, oil, and natural gas in favor of 100% renewable energy.
To address the state policies driving high utility costs in Democrat-led states, Gabriella Hoffman, director of Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation and co-author of the report, proposes repealing aggressive green mandates, adopting energy abundance policies that encourage new energy infrastructure projects, and permitting reform policies.
HEALTH CARE
Health care has also become a financial burden for many households across America. High healthcare costs result from structural failures that hinder competition, and the report proposes a way forward to develop a healthcare system centered on patients, not insurance companies, and that delivers lower costs.
The report proposes two solutions to deliver healthcare affordability: price transparency and portable benefits, which allow consumers to choose the healthcare options that work best for them.
CHILD CARE
Childcare costs are placing increasing pressure on working families, but lasting affordability will not come from imposing new mandates onto an already constrained system.
The report proposes four solutions to expand childcare supply and drive down costs: modernizing outdated regulations, strengthening family-directed tax relief, supporting flexible markets that expand options for parents, and preserving flexible work opportunities.
ELDER CARE
Elder care is one of the fastest-growing and most stressful affordability challenges facing American families today. Heather Madden, vice president for policy initiatives at Independent Women and co-author of the report, wrote, in part, “Families deserve policies that make aging at home more affordable and accessible. We should not have to choose between dignity for seniors and financial stability for families.”
Madden proposes four solutions to make elder care affordable while maintaining dignity for seniors: expanding home-based access, modernizing outdated labor rules, strengthening financial flexibility, and growing the caregiving workforce.
SOLUTIONS: PATHS FORWARD
Many of the affordability challenges we face today stem from poor government policies from decades prior, such as onerous zoning and permitting laws depressing homebuilding. Others reflect more recent ideological agendas like fighting climate change and expansive childcare subsidies.
“Reclaiming Affordability” highlights multiple pieces of legislation currently under consideration in Congress that could correct past policy failures and help deliver lasting cost-of-living relief for American households for years to come. By incorporating legislative solutions throughout the report, it provides a thorough and practical roadmap for policymakers, demonstrating concrete steps Congress can take right now to turn these policy solutions into reality.
Congress and President Donald Trump deserve commendation for enacting the historic Working Families Tax Cuts (i.e, the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act). This law reduces taxes for middle-class families, removes the penalty for hard work among blue-collar workers, and increases take-home pay.
If enacted, the reforms presented in this report can be transformational. By scaling back government intervention and adopting free-enterprise solutions, we can ensure that high costs of living do not rob future generations of their American Dream.
Read and learn more about “Reclaiming Affordability: Winning the Cost War with the Right Solutions” here.
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