President Donald Trump is considering declaring a national housing emergency to address the affordability crisis that has pushed homeownership out of reach for millions of Americans, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The announcement, which would be the latest in a series of national emergencies declared by Trump since his inauguration in January, could come as soon as this fall, Bessent told the Washington Examiner earlier this week.
“We’re trying to figure out what we can do, and we don’t want to step into the business of states, counties, and municipal governments,” Bessent said. “We may declare a national housing emergency in the fall.”
Why Would Trump Declare an Emergency?
The U.S. housing market is currently in the midst of an affordability crisis caused by a combination of sky-high home prices, historically elevated mortgage rates, and other rising costs including property taxes, homeowners association fees, and home insurance premiums.
Limited inventory during the pandemic homebuying frenzy, when mortgage rates as low as 2-3 percent sparked a nationwide surge in demand, led to home prices rocketing by more than 40 percent between 2019 and 2022, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Three years after mortgage rates shot up to 6-7 percent as a result of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hiking campaign to fight inflation, putting a dampener on demand, home prices nationwide remain much higher than before the pandemic. As of July, according to Redfin, the median sale price of a typical U.S. home was $443,141, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier.
Mortgage rates have also remained stubbornly high. As of the week ending on August 28, the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.56 percent, according to Freddie Mac.
Not only Americans are struggling to buy homes—with sales down by 1.6 percent in July compared to a year earlier and sellers outnumbering buyers by more than 500,000, according to Redfin data—but those who already own a property carry a heavier financial burden to maintain it than they did before the pandemic.
Property taxes have risen in nearly every major U.S. metropolitan area over the past five years as a result of the rise home values, according to a Redfin report. Home insurance premiums have surpassed 40 percent over the past six years, according to LendingTree, as more frequent and more severe natural disasters increase the risk of paying higher claims for carriers.
What Does Declaring a Housing Emergency Do?
Over the past seven months, Trump has declared a national emergency at the southern border, an energy emergency, and an economic emergency—among others—proving that it is a tool he often favors to enact his agenda.
A national emergency can be declared by a U.S. president at any time without it being approved by Congress. It allows the president to act quickly on matters of immediate urgency, without sending legislation to Congress for approval.
Legally, there is no clear definition of what constitutes an emergency under the 1976 National Emergency Act—it is left to the discretion of the president.
The use that Trump has made of national emergencies is considered quite controversial by some analysts and lawmakers, and, in the case the White House administration’s sweeping tariff policies, has sparked pushback in federal courts.
But declaring a national housing emergency could be politically important for the Trump administration and the Republican Party, as affordability has proven to be an urgent issue for many Americans.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, nearly a third of voters told Redfin that housing affordability was likely to affect their pick.
If it happens, the emergency is likely to come ahead of the 2026 midterms. It would be the first such instance of one being declared since the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008.
How Is This Going To Help Americans?
At the heart of the current housing affordability crisis there is a chronic lack of supply across the U.S., which has been developing and deepening for the past two decades. According to some estimates, the U.S. market currently needs around 4 million more homes.
Among the moves already proposed by the Trump administration to improve the situation and boost supply are the use of federal land for building new homes and the elimination of regulations hindering new construction.
It is unclear, however, how the White House would use the powers given to it by the declaration of an emergency.
Bessent provided no details of exactly what measures the government could take to address the crisis, but he suggested that they might involve standardized local buildings and zoning codes and lower closing costs.
“We’re trying to figure out what we can do, and we don’t want to step into the business of states, counties, and municipal governments,” Bessent told the Washington Examiner. “I think everything is on the table.”
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