The 2024 election cycle revealed how much housing affordability matters to the American public. It is a key issue that cuts across geographic, racial, generational, and economic divides. When the Trump administration steps into office on January 20, homeownership should be one of the top priorities for the administration’s first 100 days.
Earlier this year, an IPX study revealed that a whopping 70% of Americans believe that buying a home is unrealistic. A 2023 Redfin report showed only 16% of homes were considered affordable for the typical American household. A majority of both democrats and republicans have expressed support for federal action to make homeownership more accessible, turning homeownership and the broader housing crisis into one of the major bipartisan priorities for returning and newly elected officials to address in 2025.
There are a number of approaches Congress and the Trump administration can take to expand affordable homeownership. First, policy makers must address the lack of single-family housing supply. The current nationwide shortage of 3.8 million affordable homes is causing entry-level prices to escalate, triggering affordability issues for buyers forced to come up with larger down payments.
There are existing proposals that would directly address the supply issue. The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, currently introduced in Congress with bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate, would help combat this shortage by incentivizing the development and renovation of single-family housing in distressed urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. By providing $20 billion in tax credits over the next decade, this legislation will spur the development of over 500,000 new homes in blighted neighborhoods across the country.
Investing in the rehabilitation and repair of our existing housing stock and increasing the supply of single-family homes will open up options for prospective buyers and bring down housing prices.
In addition to the lack of affordable housing supply, policy makers must address the rise of private institutional investors and the impact they’re having on homeownership. In cities across the country, a flood of institutional investors are purchasing the most affordable homes and leasing them at increasingly high rents. When investors buy up affordable homes, families who dream of owning a home struggle to purchase affordably. This problem is projected to get worse. An estimated 40% of homes may be controlled by investors by 2030, limiting the possibility of homeownership for low- and middle-income Americans.
In many markets, institutional buyers target Black or minority areas, in part because these areas tend to have lower purchase prices and relatively high rents. The resulting transfer of ownership from minority communities to corporate landlords destabilizes communities and increases the nation’s racial wealth gap. The gap between Black and White homeowners widened to 28% in 2022. The racial homeownership gap remains a consistent barrier to closing the broader racial wealth gap.
The bi-partisan concern with the growing dominance of institutional investors’ impact on homeownership underscores the need to support mission-driven, nonprofit organizations who have long been the primary channel for bringing affordable supply to the market. The nonprofit housing delivery system is the sum of housing nonprofits working to create opportunities for those otherwise locked out of the home purchase market. For decades these organizations have provided counseling services, acquired distressed properties, built and rehabilitated homes, raised capital, created flexible financing solutions, and advocated for policy innovation.
Increasing the capacity of these organizations can help level the playing field with institutional investors. One way to do that is to increase funding to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). CDFIs lend capital to individuals and businesses traditionally locked out of conventional financing. During the previous administration, a $100 million investment in CDFI funds for affordable housing called for further collaboration with Congress and the Department of Treasury to invest in CDFIs. While this commitment is tremendous, more is needed from the Trump administration to restore balance to the housing market and power the nonprofit housing delivery system to build, rehabilitate, and scale the production of affordable, owner-occupied homes.
Passing the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act and increasing support for CDFIs are critical first steps to closing this gap. Many of the areas Neighborhood Homes targets have the greatest concentration of homes that need repair, including New Orleans, Detroit, and Birmingham– cities with a majority Black population. Closing the racial homeownership gap is one of the largest measures needed to help Black communities build intergenerational wealth, and in turn, ensure that homeownership opportunities are equitable to all Americans.
In every corner of the country, Americans agree that we need solutions to expand opportunities for affordable homeownership. In 2025 elected officials must prioritize legislation that promotes and protects housing affordability, increases housing supply, makes investments in CDFIs, and closes the racial homeownership gap.
Christopher Tyson is the President of NCST (the National Community Stabilization Trust).
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.
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