The Housing Affordability Crisis Reaches a Breaking Point
Recent announcements by President Trump signal a larger focus by the administration on addressing housing affordability challenges. On January 7, 2026, President Trump announced that he was taking action to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes. He also directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities. The President cited the need for reform as home prices have risen approximately 75% over the past decade and the average age of first-time homebuyers has increased to roughly 40 years old.
Bipartisan Federal Efforts Target the Housing Supply Shortage
President Trump is not alone in recognizing the urgency of the housing challenge. Over the past year, both the U.S. House and Senate advanced bipartisan legislation aimed at addressing the nationwide housing supply shortage that has strained affordability, slowed economic growth, and constrained workforce mobility. One such effort, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, seeks to modernize federal housing policy for today’s market. The bill focuses on simplifying federal housing programs, updating financing tools, and encouraging state and local governments to adopt policies that support increased housing production and lower development costs.
Another major bipartisan initiative, the ROAD to Housing Act, introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Senator Elizabeth Warren, was designed to cut red tape, ease zoning and land-use restrictions, incentivize new construction, and expand rental and manufactured housing. Although the bill was ultimately stripped from the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act in December 2025, it retains broad bipartisan backing and White House support. House leadership is being urged to reintroduce the bill which passed the Senate with unanimous support.
Building on these efforts and the President’s recent announcements, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin introduced the National Housing Emergency Act of 2026. The bill calls on the President to declare a national housing emergency and invoke the Defense Production Act to incentivize housing production, with a target of building 4 million homes. It would encourage U.S. industries to boost production of housing materials such as lumber and steel, while also seeking to limit state and local regulations that impose a “substantial burden” on housing production during the declared emergency period.
Why Housing Policy Reform Focuses on Expanding Supply
Together, these bipartisan efforts acknowledge that the housing affordability crisis is a national issue with significant economic and social consequences. They also recognize that local land-use policies, the cost of entitlement delays, lengthy permitting timelines, and inconsistent development regulations across jurisdictions all play a meaningful role in driving up housing costs. Lawmakers backing these measures emphasize that expanding housing supply is the most durable path to improving affordability for homebuyers.
If enacted, these measures could lay the groundwork to meaningfully expand housing supply and ease the housing affordability crisis.
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