Trump signs executive orders aimed at addressing home affordability
concerns ahead of midterms
[March 14, 2026]
By JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a pair of
executive orders aimed at showing his commitment to improving home
affordability — a key issue for many voters going into November’s
election for control of the House and Senate.
Under the first order, the federal government would reduce its own
housing regulatory burdens and create incentives for best practices by
state and local governments, with the goal of making it easier for
builders to construct more homes. The second order would reduce the
regulatory burdens tied to mortgages and make it easier for smaller
community banks to provide home loans.
“Layers of unnecessary regulatory barriers, slow permitting processes,
and onerous mandates at all levels of government have delayed
construction, restricted development, and driven up the costs of new
housing,” said a draft of the order. "These constraints have made
housing less affordable for many Americans."
The executive orders — obtained exclusively by The Associated Press —
show how the Trump administration is seeking to put more of a policy
emphasis on the importance of home ownership. Housing affordability has
emerged as a fundamental political challenge for Republicans and
Democrats alike, with lawmakers working on measures to show they’re
responding to concerns that buying a first home has become difficult for
middle-class families.
On Thursday, the Senate passed a broad bipartisan bill on housing, which
seeks to adjust policies to increase construction and limit
institutional ownership of home development. The measure's status path
in the House is uncertain. The White House said in a March 2 statement
that it supported passage of the measure.
It's unclear how quickly federal efforts can generate new construction
or meaningfully reduce mortgage costs, as the key regulatory issues on
home development involve state and local government policy choices and
mortgage rates will reflect changes in financial markets.
The multiyear shortage of construction has kept prices high, while
mortgage rates spiking in the aftermath of the pandemic have left many
renters unable to buy and existing owners unwilling to part with their
current properties.
The orders cut environmental regulations and simplify the mortgage
process
Under the first order signed Friday by Trump, federal agencies would
create incentives to speed up permitting times by state and local
government, including the curtailing of “green” building codes,
reductions to design and building mandates and making it easier to
deploy innovative construction methods.
The order looks heavily at federal environmental regulations, directing
the EPA and secretary of the Army to review and update stormwater,
wetlands and other water-related permitting requirements to reduce costs
and improve the ability to insure homes.
The departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development and
Transportation, along with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are
instructed to eliminate regulations and update programs that are
reducing residential development. Multiple federal agencies would also
seek to eliminate environmental and energy efficiency regulations that
could increase costs and restrict home construction.
White House officials said the Biden-era energy efficiency mandates in
HUD and Agriculture departments' guidelines could add up to $9,000 to
housing construction costs. The officials requested anonymity to outline
the details of the orders before their signing, saying that other
federal regulations would add even more for participants.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation would simplify its
guidance for historic reviews, while the federal government would seek
to have its New Markets Tax Credit program align with the Opportunity
Zone tax breaks created during Trump's first term.
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President Donald Trump speaks at a women's history month event in
the East Room at the White House, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The order does not seek to change state and local zoning codes, as
the administration has sought to preserve suburban housing rather
than increase housing density.
The White House officials said federal agencies can incorporate best
practices on housing regulations as a criteria for rewarding
discretionary grants to state and local governments. One example of
a best practice would be local governments having a 60-day deadline
for approving building permits. The administration sees this order
as having a longer term effect for homebuilders and buyers.
The second order would aim to streamline the mortgage process,
directing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to change its
mortgage guidelines so that smaller banks could engage in more
lending. The CFPB would update the requirements under the Home
Mortgage Disclosure Act to lessen the regulatory burdens for
obtaining a mortgage, among other directives.
The administration's theory is that the changes to mortgage
regulations would increase the number of financial institutions
competing to provide home loans, thus reducing the cost of borrowing
for buyers. The White House maintains that its changes would
preserve the financial safety and stability of the mortgage market.
The White House officials expect that potential homebuyers could see
the impact of the changes to mortgage regulations in a matter of
months.
GOP election fortunes could be hurt by elevated home prices
High home prices have emerged as a key issue for voters under the
age of 40 going into this fall's midterm elections.
The median price of an existing home sold in February was $398,000,
according to the National Association of Realtors. That total is
nearly five times the median household income. A historic rule of
thumb was that homes generally cost three times the household
income.
The average 30-year mortgage rate in February was 6.05%, down from
6.84% a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said as part
of its sales data.
The reduction in borrowing costs has made monthly payments more
manageable, but rates are still much higher than the sub-3% averages
that occurred in 2020 and 2021 as the weakened economy dealt with
the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath.
Trump has primarily sought to address the challenge of home
affordability by directing the two mortgage companies under
government control, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to purchase $200
billion in mortgage bonds.
He has also called for limiting the ability of financial
institutions to buy homes and caps on the interest rates paid on
credit cards, arguing that both moves would make it easier to buy
homes.
But the president has previously pushed back against the idea of
dramatically increasing construction, saying that doing so could
bring down home prices and the net worth of existing owners. That
has him trying to balance his desire to keep prices rising while
also finding ways to boost ownership for people who are now renting.
“People that own their homes, we’re going to keep them wealthy,”
Trump said at his January Cabinet meeting. “We’re going to keep
those prices up. We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes
so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home.”
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