President Trump returned to the White House with pledges to address the housing shortage and affordability crisis. But his moves to crack down on trade policy, immigration and the size of the federal government threaten to compound the strain on homeowners he has vowed to ease. Though t he Trump administration has stressed home ownership as “a ticket to the American dream” as it attempts to herald in “the golden age of America,” housing has appeared to take somewhat of a backseat to the issues of foreign policy and the border in the opening months of the president's second term. And some of his moves on those fronts — like levying tariffs and upping deportations — risk contributing to higher costs and hurdles to homeownership for everyday Americans.  “You could have maybe imagined a world where Trump, with his history as a developer, might have had common cause with housing advocates who think that we need to build more housing,” said Katherine Einstein, associate political science professor at Boston University and a leader of the Housing Politics Lab.  But Trump’s first administration didn’t seem to make housing affordability much of a priority either, Einstein said, and the signals so far from his second term “leave me profoundly pessimistic about whether fair housing law will continue to be enforced, and whether we’ll see fewer federal funding for the production of new housing.” High housing costs and mortgage rates have hampered prospective buyers from jumping into the squeezed market, even as areas across the country are struggling to keep up with demand. Pending home sales, based on the signed contracts for existing homes, hit a record low at the start of the year.  Meanwhile, homelessness in the U.S. hit its highest level on record in 2024. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tallied more than 770,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night, an 18 percent increase from 2023.  In plain terms, the country is “facing a housing crisis,” Einstein said.  Housing affordability was a top issue in the 2024 election, drawing promises from presidential candidates to address the shortage and help prospective buyers. The Trump platform partly blamed open borders for driving up the cost of housing — and vowed to open portions of federal land for new builds, promote homeownership through tax incentives, bring down mortgage rates “by slashing inflation” and “cut unnecessary regulations that raise housing costs.”  On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at addressing that crisis, ordering executive departments and agencies to “deliver emergency price relief” to lower housing costs and expand housing supply, among other goals. Executive branch heads were directed to report back regularly on its implementation.  "This order is light on details for how to address the housing affordability crisis, but we find it encouraging that housing is remaining toward the top of the agenda,” Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner said in an analysis at the time. The administration has since made few moves explicitly aimed at addressing housing prices. After Trump addressed Congress in a much-anticipated March speech on his actions and priorities, Berner in a separate statement called the president out for not addressing housing affordability in his remarks. That speech came shortly after HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced in late February that the department would eliminate a rule that Trump had cautioned would “destroy the value of houses.”  The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which prohibits housing discrimination, was enacted during the Obama administration to “overcome historic patterns of segregation,” and then terminated by Trump in 2020 before being restored by former President Biden the following year.  “I think it signals that the federal government is going to take a massive step back in producing affordable housing and pushing local governments to do it right,” Einstein said of the rule rollback.  Trump's handling of the HUD itself has also raised alarm among housing experts.  The agency is responsible for policy and programs that address the nation’s housing needs and enforce fair housing laws. Through the department, the federal government helps fund publicly subsidized housing and can play a role in incentivizing zoning and land use changes that support housing development and fair housing practices. Concerns over the agency's direction under Trump rose when he tapped Turner, a former NFL player who served as executive director of the Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first term, to lead the department. Turner was confirmed in the Senate by a 55-44 vote, with Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.) and Peter Welch (Vt.) crossing the aisle to support him, but he faced questions about his qualifications for the role. “Turner has some political and public service. But we're talking about an NFL player. Why are we picking a pro athlete to run one of the most important safety nets in this country?” asked Anthony Luna, CEO of a California-based commercial real estate advisory and property management firm.  Einstein also said Trump tapping Turner is “a signal of where the Trump administration sees housing policy,” pointing to his thin resume in the housing sector. “I think it helps us to sort of see where the administration's policy goals are,” she said.  The department also faces major shake-ups as Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission crack down on the size of the federal government.  Turner launched a “DOGE Task Force” at the HUD that has reported recovering $1.9 billion of funds he said were misplaced by the prior administration, plus an additional $260 million in “wasteful contracts.” And multiple outlets have reported that the HUD’s workforce could be drastically slashed within the Federal Housing Administration and elsewhere, raising questions about the potential impacts such cuts could have on homebuyers. The Associated Press reported in early March that the HUD had also terminated its $1 billion Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which funds renovation projects at affordable housing units nationwide.  “They might say [housing] is a priority, but it's obviously not as big a priority as reducing the federal workforce, or placing tariffs onto various foreign goods or securing the border,” said Terry Clower, a public policy professor at George Mason University who has worked on housing, land use planning and community development.  “I think a reasonable concern here is even for the programs that are not outright canceled, who's going to be left to administer the programs?” Clower said. "If the purpose is to be disruptive, they certainly are accomplishing that.” And experts fret that the housing space could be harmed by other Trump moves, including his hard-line immigration policies. Immigrants in the country without authorization made up 15 percent of all construction workers as of 2020, according to a report that year from Pew Research, which was three times their share among all U.S. workers — and Trump’s deportation blitz has put many in the sector on alert.  “We know that our construction industry is heavily reliant on migrant and immigrant labor, and we have job sites across the country that are basically slowed or stopped because of a lack of workforce or a workforce that's fearful to come to the job site again,” Luna said.  “You're going to see projects continue to drag on, and then the cost continue to increase as well.” Trump has also tipped the U.S. economy into a trade war with sweeping tariffs on multiple countries, prompting steep losses in the stock market and worrying consumers about potential price increases. He recently paused most tariffs on the country's trading partners for 90 days, but upped China to a 145 percent import tax. The moves could strain builders and buyers alike, experts said.  “The last time that Mr. Trump was in office, he imposed for a short period of time tariffs on Canadian goods, including softwood lumber. It, of course, increases the cost of building homes,” Clower said. Still, the Trump administration is projecting optimism about addressing the country’s housing issues.  Turner has praised Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and said in recent posts on social platform X that Trump “is working to make sure our homes are AMERICAN MADE” and “bringing manufacturing and jobs back.” “Cement, lumber, steel. You can’t build a home without them. For decades, we’ve bought these products from outside the United States,” Turner said.  Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also launched a task force last month to identify parts of the federal government’s roughly 640 million square acres of land for housing development, moving forward on a campaign promise.   That initiative, which has also been floated by some Democrats, “has the potential to be very promising,” Clower said. “But it’s all the devils and all the details … What conditions would they place on that, and who ultimately becomes in charge of that?”  “We all understand the housing crisis facing our nation, but I would challenge all American lawmakers and citizens to think of it not as a crisis but an opportunity,” Turner told The Hill in a statement last month.  “An opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many. An opportunity to uplift individuals and families and lead them down the path of self-sufficiency. An opportunity to enact impactful, enduring policies that build on President Trump’s Day One executive order to reduce housing costs.” Turner said his aim is to find “long-term solutions” to up housing affordability, business creation and economic opportunity for Americans.  ...read more read less