President Donald Trump ran for president in 2024 in part by promising to make necessities more affordable for ordinary Americans — but a recent report suggests his policies are doing exactly the opposite.
“As the White House seeks to lower costs ahead of the midterms, housing lenders and state agencies are raising concerns that administration officials could soon wind down a program that has so far helped finance more than 56,000 affordable rentals at no cost to taxpayers,” reported Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller on Monday. Because the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget “projects no new commitments” to the FFB Risk-Sharing Program, which 34 states use to lower borrowing costs for consumers at “a net revenue gain for the Treasury.”
This is “precisely the kind of program a fiscally serious administration should want to preserve,” the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) argued in a letter signed by more than a dozen other housing groups and initially covered by Semafor. Mueller continued that “instead, the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget ‘projects no new commitments’ for the program, the groups write, warning that already, state housing agencies ‘are being turned away.’”
NAAHL’s Sarah Brundage told Semafor that “given the severity of the housing shortage, the Trump administration should not only restore access to the program but also expand its reach.” Trump’s relevant cabinet departments, including the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, did not respond to Semafor for comment.
Semafor’s story is not the first one to indicate that Trump’s policies will fail to serve Americans who struggle to find affordable housing. Speaking to Politico last month, the housing firm Compass’ chief economist Mike Simonsen explained that Trump’s war in Iran is causing housing prices to skyrocket — and he has noticed this firsthand.
"People are worried,” Simonsen explained. “I was on a call with 500 agents today, and that was definitely one of the comments that popped up: We’re worried about war. We’re worried about what happens because of war.”
“Rates have been migrating up again — especially since Iran — and that’s because of the inflation threat from higher oil prices,” Stephen Moore, a former economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a past unofficial adviser to Trump, told Politico.“The problem with higher mortgage rates is that it hurts the seller and the buyer, so the only person that helps is the bank. It’s a very negative thing.”
In March the financial publication Moneywise reported that “Americans thinking about selling their homes may decide to stay put when they look at today’s interest rates, especially if they’re currently locked in at a low rate.” Although it noted Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director William Pulte was “actively evaluating” portable mortgages, or mortgage that “lets you transfer your mortgage and your existing rate to a new home instead of taking out a new loan when you move,” critics raised concerns that in the plan homeowners who purchase a place more expensive than their current property would still need “to either cover the difference in cash or take out a separate loan for it.”
“The New York Times reports that portable mortgages exist in other countries for shorter-term loans, but introducing them in the U.S. could shake up the economy,” Moneywise added. “U.S. mortgages are bundled and sold as investments called mortgage-backed securities.”
