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Andrew Dehan | (TNS) Bankrate.com

The housing market has an affordability problem. During the pandemic, historically low mortgage rates boosted demand, driving home prices to record highs. After decades of underbuilding, construction labor shortages and rising material costs, the supply shortage continues to push homeownership further out of reach. To afford the typical home today, Americans need at least a six-figure salary, according to a Bankrate study.

While the housing market typically isn’t moved by presidential elections, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have weighed in with varying proposals. While these would need approval in Congress to move forward, here’s what we know about their plans so far, and what the experts think.

Affordable housing

Vice President Harris has shared plans for 3 million new housing units over the next four years, spurred by a tax break incentivizing home builders to create more starter homes. She has also proposed up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for eligible first-time homebuyers, along with restrictions on how landlords determine rent increases and limits on tax breaks for institutional investors who buy single-family homes. read more

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is on his way to the International Space Station with two Russian cosmonaut crewmates who have helped set a record — they’re among 19 people in orbit at the same time.

Pettit, who was part of the 1996 NASA class of astronauts, made his fourth trip to space Wednesday joining Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner on the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft.

The trio lifted off at 12:23 p.m. EDT (9:23 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a short, two-orbit trip before a rendezvous with the ISS just over three hours later at 3:32 p.m. EDT to join the nine astronauts and cosmonauts already on board the ISS and become part of Expedition 71.

SpaceX launches Polaris Dawn spacewalk mission taking billionaire to space for 2nd time

The 12 people on board the ISS isn’t a record for the station, but with the three Chinese taikonauts on the Tiangong space station already in orbit and the four passengers orbiting the Earth on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience on the Polaris Dawn mission, that will mark a record 19 people orbiting in space at the same time. read more