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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took the Inman Connect stage Thursday to argue that homeownership is the backbone of the American middle class while making his case to real estate professionals: “ Real estate agents are important small business people.”
Kennedy made the remarks while chatting with Inman founder Brad Inman. Midway through the conversation, Kennedy said that when he was a kid, the average house cost was $7,000 and the average income was $5,000 a year. The result was that “everyone could own a home,” and widespread access to equity fueled an explosion of wealth.
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“The American middle class is the greatest economic engine in history,” Kennedy said. “This ferment of economic activity has its roots in home ownership.”
However, Kennedy was critical of changes in the housing market that have made it harder for many people to own a home.
“Today we are transitioning from a nation of homeowners to a nation of renters,” he said. “When we do this, we will move from citizens to subjects.”
Near the end of the interview, Kennedy also weighed in on recent antitrust lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors and several companies shaking up the industry. While Kennedy said he didn’t know enough about the issue to make a commitment, he said based on “what I know, it seems counterproductive.”
“It seems unfair and unreasonable,” he added.
Kennedy went on to promise that if elected, he would come up with something “meaningful.” But he has repeatedly praised “free market” real estate agents.
“Real estate agents are important small business people,” he said, “and we want to build small businesses in this country.”
He explained that Kennedy’s vision for improving homeownership opportunities included limiting the ability of large corporations to purchase large numbers of homes. He said this would free up more supply. At the same time, he also hopes to create incentives for local governments to relax zoning and planning laws – a plan that he believes can also increase housing supply by spurring the construction of buildings such as tiny homes.
If Kennedy wins the election — which current polls suggest is unlikely — he will appoint a task force to address housing affordability.
“We need to build,” Kennedy told Inman reporters after appearing on the Connect stage. “We need to build low-income housing imaginatively—so that low-income housing is enriching rather than oppressive.”
“There are a lot of other countries that are growing in population but don’t have a housing crisis,” he adds, “and a lot of that has to do with over-regulation by zoning and planning regulations at the local level.”
Although Kennedy took the stage to speak at the end of Connect’s final day, hundreds of attendees still lined up to attend the event. The line eventually snaked out of the ballroom, past the Connect exhibition hall, and down a nearby hallway. A team of armed Secret Service agents — some in suits, others in police-style uniforms — screened attendees with metal detectors and wands as they entered the room.
When Kennedy finally took the podium, at least 400 people – some citing delays in their flights home – had flooded the room.
Earlier in the conversation, Inman also noted that the media has portrayed Kennedy as anti-vaccine. Inman asked Kennedy to clarify his views.
“If you want to get vaccinated, you should be able to get vaccinated, but you should understand the safety, risks and efficacy of the vaccine,” Kennedy said, as the room erupted into scattered applause.
Kennedy went on to discuss trust in institutions and criticized the common refrain in the pandemic era that people should “trust the experts.”
“Trust in experts is not a characteristic of democracy or science,” he said, adding that trust in experts is actually a characteristic of religions and totalitarian regimes. In fact, Kennedy continued, members of a democracy need to “maintain a vigorous skepticism.”
He went on to describe his career as a lawyer, saying that skepticism was an important part of the job.
“My job as a lawyer is to be able to read the science critically and then deconstruct it and put an expert on the witness stand and let him break it down,” he said on stage.
As for the presidential campaign itself, Kennedy later acknowledged to Inman that Vice President Kamala Harris’ sudden appointment last month could hurt his own campaign in the short term, but expressed confidence that her financial impact would Policy concerns will ultimately unsettle business leaders.
“I think in the short term, it cost me points,” Kennedy said. “I think over the next three months we’ve already felt the unease, especially in the business community, with Vice President Harris’ record in California and her perceived record of hostility toward the business community.”
“This was a very dynamic election,” he added. “You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
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UPDATE: This article was updated after publication with additional comments from Kennedy’s visit to Inman Connect.
Email Jim Dalrymple II
