President Trump Signs Housing Affordability Executive Order
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that seeks to lower homeownership costs.
The signing comes less than two weeks before the midterm elections on Nov. 3 that are dominated by affordability concerns, Politico noted.
The order reflects a draft previously published by Politico and directs various agencies to reduce mortgage costs and support the development of manufactured housing.
The multipart executive order seeks to reduce costs for title and mortgage insurance and promote more affordable manufactured housing, Realtor.com said. The president said he wanted to see new technologies that use artificial intelligence, or “super intelligence,” to accelerate the housing market.
“Homeownership is a vital pillar of our great Nation, and President Trump and his Administration are working tirelessly to cut burdensome costs and red tape to make the American dream of homeownership more affordable for all Americans,” the White House said in a statement.
Midterm Elections
The executive order comes amid a slow housing market and rising lending costs. The high cost of housing has loomed over a midterm election cycle, which is centered on voters’ economic frustrations, Politico said.
“The American Dream of homeownership is a vital pillar of our great country,” the order states. “It is the policy of my Administration to reduce regulatory barriers to mortgage origination and costs impeding homeownership”
The order directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency to create a pilot program proactively canceling mortgage insurance for eligible borrowers with government-backed home loans. It also directs FHFA to expand an existing program allowing borrowers to qualify for government-sponsored mortgages by using less expensive alternatives to title insurance.
The document also calls on the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture to reduce the interest rates on the single-family mortgages offered by their housing programs.
Politico said the order also establishes a multiagency task force to support innovation in the development of manufactured homes, which the administration and Congress have bolstered as a potential solution to the increasing expense of housing construction.
Manufactured Housing
The task force is aimed at promoting innovation in manufactured housing, to be chaired by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner.
Trump “is committing to bring even more innovative and affordable housing solutions to market for the American people,” Turner said in a statement.
“For decades, home building has been crippled by regulatory red tape, but the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation can usher in the next generation of housing by modernizing standards and speeding up approvals across government,” Turner added.
