In a recent op-ed column, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), warns that President Trump’s housing policies could risk triggering a new housing and economic crisis.
In the piece, Dr. Chavis calls for bipartisan action, and a bold “abundance agenda” to build more housing and protect working families.
“President Donald Trump’s housing policy is shaping up to be both an economic and humanitarian disaster. If leaders across the political spectrum don’t act soon, the damage may be irreversible,” said Dr. Chavis.
Dr. Chavis cited obstacles to housing, including a shortage of Section 8 vouchers and affordable units, along with rent-pricing software.
Last August, RealPage Inc. was accused in a scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing and to monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software that landlords use to price apartments. The Justice Department, together with the Attorneys General of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against RealPage for its conduct. The complaint alleges that RealPage contracted with competing landlords who agree to share with RealPage nonpublic, competitively sensitive information about their apartment rental rates and other lease terms to train and run RealPage’s algorithmic pricing software. This software then generated recommendations, including on apartment rental pricing and other terms, for participating landlords based on their and their rivals’ competitively sensitive information. The complaint further alleges that in a free market, these landlords would otherwise be competing independently to attract renters based on pricing, discounts, concessions, lease terms, and other dimensions of apartment leasing.
“If we want lower rents, we don’t need to ban software that reports current prices. We need to build enough housing, so the data reflects abundance, not scarcity,” said Dr. Chavis.
The op-ed also noted how President Trump’s trade wars have driven up lumber prices through tariffs, a cost which falls back upon the shoulders of the consumer. Trump’s tariff announcement sent a ripple throughout the financial markets, as goods ranging from Italian coffee and Japanese whisky, to Taiwanese semiconductors and sportswear made in Asia, are impacted and hit consumers where it hurts the most … their wallets.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), $204 billion worth of goods were used in the construction of both new multifamily and single-family housing in 2024. Of this share, $14 billion of those goods were imported from outside the U.S., with approximately 7% of all goods used in new residential construction having originated from a foreign nation.
“The announced ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs could push home construction costs up by 4% to 6% over the next 12 months,” said Dr. Selma Hepp, Cotality Chief Economist. “When factored in with the current inflation levels, there will be an estimated 10% increase in material prices, broadly averaging around a $17,000 to $22,000 increase in construction cost per home.”
Also of note, Dr. Chavis noted the Trump administration has targeted immigrant communities who contribute to the nation’s construction workforce.
As reported by the Urban Institute, after years of underbuilding, the country faces a housing shortage estimated at 3.7 million units, thus pushing home prices and rents to record highs. But one of the biggest obstacles to building more housing is a shortage of construction workers, which is slowing down projects and driving up labor costs. Industry groups have reported that 248,000 construction jobs remained unfilled, despite high unemployment in some areas. And these groups expect the construction sector to need nearly 454,000 new workers on top of normal hiring to meet demand in 2025.
“Now, the president is laying the groundwork for another housing crisis that could rival 2008,” said Dr. Chavis.
Immigrant workers made up more than 23% of the construction workforce in 2023, observed the Urban Institute, with nearly half of that total undocumented immigrants. Raids by the Trump administration’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) has worsened the worker shortage, thus deepening the housing crisis and stunting the nation’s expand housing supply.
Further, the Urban Institute reveals that Texas and California account for more than 1.1 million foreign-born construction workers (with either undocumented or lawful status), representing 37% and 39% of their overall construction workforce. Other states with large populations of foreign-born construction workers include Florida, New York, and New Jersey. In these states, one in every three construction workers were born outside the U.S.
Dr. Chavis mentioned that President Trump was “giving very serious consideration” to taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public again, and the role these government-backed mortgage giants played in the last financial collapse.
In late May, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social his intentions on the long-discussed privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” said President Trump via a post via his TruthSocial account @realDonaldTrump. “I will be speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, among others, and will be making a decision in the near future. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay Tuned!!”
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac help provide stability and affordability to America’s home mortgage market. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that Fannie and Freddie support approximately 70% of the U.S. mortgage market.
“If we don’t solve the housing crisis ourselves, voters will turn to anyone who claims they will, even if the solutions are fake or destructive,” added Dr. Chavis in the article. “The values are already there. What we need now is strategy and action. Increasing housing affordability and availability isn’t just good policy. It’s the only way to keep working Americans housed, the economy stable, and America’s future secure and inclusive.”
Click here to read the article by Dr. Chavis in its entirety.
