Vice President JD Vance reportedly touted President Donald Trump’s economic agenda Friday, declaring that the American dream of owning a home is becoming attainable again for young Americans after housing costs surged during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Speaking at a factory in his Appalachian hometown of Middletown, Ohio, Vance focused on affordability and argued that Trump’s policies are beginning to ease financial pressures facing Americans.
“Under Joe Biden the cost of the median price home nearly doubled,” Vance said. “Now for the first time in over five years, rents are falling for the first time. Got a lot of work to do but we are finally seeing that American dream of homeownership become accessible again to young people.”
Vance has previously made a similar argument about housing costs. In March 2025, he claimed home prices had “nearly doubled” under Biden, though experts later described that characterization as misleading.
According to WRAL, four government and private-sector measurements showed that home sales prices themselves did not double during Biden’s presidency. However, when other expenses associated with purchasing a home were included — most notably rising mortgage rates — the overall price tag doubled during Biden’s time in office.
Vance’s assertion Friday that rents are falling “for the first time” in five years also conflicts with data cited by Realtor.com.
Rather than rents beginning to decline during Trump’s second term, Realtor.com reported that the U.S. median rent had been gradually declining for 36 consecutive months, meaning the downward trend began while Biden was still president.
Vance also turned to history during his remarks, quoting Depression-era Louisiana Democratic Gov. Huey Long while discussing homeownership, security and economic freedom.
Long, whom Vance described as an “interesting guy” and “kind of crazy guy,” was impeached in 1929 but was not convicted by the Louisiana House of Representatives. The charges against him included “demagoguery and dictatorship, misconduct, blackmail, and usurpation of authority.”
Vance invoked Long’s famous “Every man a king” slogan while arguing that having a good job alone is not enough to provide Americans with genuine freedom and security.
The vice president said he wanted Americans to experience the peace that comes from knowing they are “the lord of your own manor.”
But Vance argued that nobody can truly be a king when their “castle is under siege by criminals,” pointing to the threat of being mugged or having a vehicle carjacked while taking a family out to dinner.
Vance then connected that argument to immigration, saying that ending what he called the “Biden border invasion” had been a major part of the changes made over the previous 18 months.
