Will Trump talk about this real crisis affecting millions during his big speech?
By Michael Jones
President Trump will deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night when it will be anyone’s guess whether he’ll throw red meat to the base to energize the MAGA right with inflammatory rhetoric, controversial policies, and extreme positions or focus on his plan to lower the cost-of-living, his core campaign promise.
I’ll be at the Capitol reporting on the speech and paying attention to whether he addresses a pressing issue for many Americans: the affordable housing crisis.
The New York Times published reporting a couple of days ago that revealed a few startling statistics:
– “Today there isn’t a single state, city or county in the United States where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a median-priced two-bedroom apartment.
– “An astounding 12.1 million low-income renter households are ‘severely cost burdened.’
– “Since 1985, rent prices have exceeded income gains by 325 percent.”
Trump acknowledging the crisis won’t solve it, but it would go a long way in terms of scoring him some points with the American people, for whom the issue is a priority, at a time when polling indicates people are disappointed with his performance on the economy more than a full month into his term.
If you’re looking for the culprit of this crisis, it’s three-fold. First, the U.S. has a significant shortage of approximately 3.8 million affordable homes. Number two, housing costs have escalated. And three, the number of cost-burdened households—which are households spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing and utilities—has grown to nearly one in three as of 2023, including more than a quarter of households with a mortgage and almost half of all renter households. Rising construction costs, labor shortages, and restrictive zoning laws that limit the development of new housing units are among the contributing factors.
It wasn’t always this way. Although federal housing policy focused on boosting the construction industry and providing affordable housing during the New Deal era, policies have shifted over the decades between promoting public housing projects and encouraging private sector involvement through incentives and subsidies.
In recent years, the debate over federal housing policy has focused on balancing local autonomy with federal regulations to ensure fair housing and increase affordability.
The Biden administration sought to address the crisis through several initiatives, including proposed investments as part of broader infrastructure legislation and attempts to reinstate and strengthen an Obama-era regulation designed to combat housing segregation. Former President Biden also championed pandemic-era emergency rental assistance programs to prevent evictions and support struggling renters. But despite those efforts, the impact of the policies was limited due to the persistent challenges I mentioned above.
Housing policy was also a prominent issue on the 2024 campaign trail.
Former Vice President Harris promised to expand affordable housing through increased federal funding, enforcing fair housing laws, and incentivizing local governments to reform restrictive zoning regulations. She also proposed tax credits for renters and first-time homebuyers to alleviate housing cost burdens, including down payments.
The first Trump administration emphasized reducing the oversight of federal housing policy. Additionally, it implemented policies such as imposing tariffs on construction materials like Canadian lumber and Mexican drywall, which critics argued could increase construction costs and exacerbate the affordability crisis.
Four years later, then-candidate Trump pledged to continue reducing federal regulations to encourage private-sector housing development. He also emphasized protecting suburban neighborhoods from federal overreach and maintaining local control over zoning laws.
You’re likely to see more of the same during Trump 2.0.
Scott Turner, who previously led a Trump administration initiative to invest in economically distressed areas where investors receive tax incentives to spur development and job creation, was confirmed to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development last month and has signaled a shift in federal housing policy.
For starters, that Obama-era regulation the Biden administration reinstated I discussed? Turner announced plans to eliminate it, which he said would reduce federal involvement in local zoning decisions and restore local control. Turner also established a Department of Government Efficiency task force within HUD to review and potentially revoke contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Additionally, he plans to significantly reduce HUD’s workforce, which could impact the department’s capacity to administer housing programs effectively.
To that end, Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House committee with oversight of federal housing policy, plans to lead a group of her members to hand-deliver to HUD Secretary Turner to demand answers about staff terminations, closed field offices, and weakened civil rights enforcement. The members argue that the actions would worsen the housing crisis and discrimination.
The letter is part of broader Democratic efforts to scrutinize the Trump administration’s housing policy. Following the delivery, the lawmakers and housing advocates plan to hold an event outside the HUD headquarters to highlight the issue.
“I am not surprised to see reports that Trump, HUD Secretary Scott Turner, and the DOGE Ketamine Klan have plans to decimate the federal agency charged with creating affordable housing, ending homelessness and illegal discrimination, and strengthening communities,” Waters said in a statement last month. “Committee Democrats will stand strong, as we always have, to protect those who have dedicated their careers to serving their fellow Americans and to defund HUD programs, which help house millions of Americans who would otherwise have nowhere else to turn for a safe and affordable place to call home.”
Michael Jones is an independent Capitol Hill correspondent and contributor for COURIER. He is the author of Once Upon a Hill, a newsletter about Congressional politics.
