{"id":1405137,"date":"2026-02-08T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1405137&preview=true&preview_id=1405137"},"modified":"2026-02-08T10:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:30:25","slug":"housing-costs-are-crippling-many-americans-heres-how-the-two-parties-propose-to-fix-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/08\/housing-costs-are-crippling-many-americans-heres-how-the-two-parties-propose-to-fix-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing costs are crippling many Americans. Here\u2019s how the two parties propose to fix that"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gavin J. Quinton, Los Angeles Times<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014 Donald Trump\u2019s promises on affordability in 2024 helped propel him to a second term in the White House.<\/p>\n

Since then, Trump says, the problem has been solved: He now calls affordability a hoax perpetrated by Democrats. Yet the high cost of living, especially housing, continues to weigh heavily on voters, and has dragged down the president\u2019s approval ratings.<\/p>\n

In a poll conducted this month<\/a> by the New York Times and Siena University, 58% of respondents said they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy.<\/p>\n

How the economy fares in the coming months will play an outsize role in determining whether the Democrats can build on their electoral success in 2025 and seize control of one or both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n

With housing costs so central to voters\u2019 perceptions about the economy, both parties have put forward proposals in recent weeks targeting affordability. Here is a closer look at their competing plans for expanding housing and reining in costs:<\/p>\n

How bad is the affordability crisis?<\/h4>\n

Nationwide, wages have barely crept up over the last decade \u2014 rising by 21.24% between 2014 and 2024, according to the Federal Reserve. Over the same period, rent and home sale prices more than doubled, and healthcare and grocery costs rose 71.5% and 37.35%, respectively, according to the Fed.<\/p>\n

National home price-to-income ratios are at an all-time high,<\/a> and coastal states like California and Hawaii are the most extreme examples.<\/p>\n

Housing costs in California are about twice the national average, according to the state Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office, which said prices have increased at \u201chistorically rapid rates\u201d<\/a> in recent years. The median California home sold for $877,285 in 2024, according to the California Assn. of Realtors, compared with about $420,000 nationwide, per Federal Reserve economic data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

California needs to add 180,000 housing units annually to keep up with demand, according to the state Department of Housing. So far, California has fallen short of those goals and has just begun to see success in reducing its homeless population, which sat at 116,000 unsheltered people<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n

What do the polls say?<\/h4>\n

More than two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a Gallup poll<\/a> last month said they felt the economy was getting worse, and 36% expressed approval for the president \u2014 the lowest total since his second term began.<\/p>\n

The poll found that 47% of U.S. adults now describe current economic conditions as \u201cpoor,\u201d up from 40% just a month prior and the highest since Trump took office. Just 21% said economic conditions were either \u201cexcellent\u201d or \u201cgood,\u201d while 31% described them as \u201conly fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Associated Press poll<\/a> found that only 16% of Republicans think Trump has helped \u201ca lot\u201d in fixing cost of living problems.<\/p>\n

What have the Democrats proposed?<\/h4>\n

The party is pushing measures to expand the supply of housing, and cut down on what they call \u201crestrictive\u201d single-family zoning in favor of denser development.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats plan to \u201csupercharge\u201d construction through bills like California Sen. Adam Schiff\u2019s Housing BOOM Act<\/a>, which he introduced in December.<\/p>\n

Schiff said the bill would lower prices by stimulating the development of \u201cmillions of affordable homes.\u201d The proposal would expand low-income housing tax credits, set aside funds for rental assistance and homelessness, and provide $10 billion in housing subsidies for \u201cmiddle-income\u201d workers such as teachers, police officers and firefighters.<\/p>\n

The measure has not been heard in committee, and faces long odds in the Republican-controlled body, though Schiff said inaction on the proposal could be used against opponents.<\/p>\n

And the Republicans?<\/h4>\n

A group of 190 House Republicans this month unveiled a successor proposal<\/a> to the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d the sprawling tax and spending plan approved and signed into law by Trump in July.<\/p>\n

The Republican Study Committee described the proposal as an affordability package aimed at lowering down payments, enacting mortgage reforms and creating more tax breaks.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the group said it would reduce the budget deficit by $1 trillion and could pass with a simple majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis blueprint \u2026 locks in President Trump\u2019s deregulatory agenda through the only process Democrats can\u2019t block: reconciliation,\u201d said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, who chairs the group. \u201cWe have 11 months of guaranteed majorities. We\u2019re not wasting a single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the proposal has not yet been introduced as legislation, Republicans said it would include a mechanism to revoke funding from blue states over rent control and immigration policy, which they calculated would save $48 billion.<\/p>\n

President Trump has endorsed a $200-billion mortgage bond stimulus, which he said would drive down mortgage rates and monthly payments. And the White House, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac \u2014 the two enterprises that back most U.S. mortgages \u2014 continues to push the idea of portable and assumable mortgages.<\/p>\n

Trump said the move would allow buyers to keep their existing mortgage rate or enable new homeowners to assume a previous owner\u2019s mortgage.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice, meanwhile, has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the Fed\u2019s renovation costs, as Trump bashed him over \u201chis never ending quest to keep interest rates high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president also vowed to revoke federal funding to states over a wealth of issues such as child care and immigration policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about any particular policy that they think is harmful,\u201d California Democratic Rep. Laura Friedman said. \u201cThis is about Trump\u2019s always trying to find a way to punish blue states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there any alignment?<\/h4>\n

The two parties are cooperating on companion measures in the House and Senate.<\/p>\n

The bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act<\/a> seeks to expand housing supply by easing regulatory barriers. It passed the Senate unanimously and has support from the White House, but House Republicans have balked, and it has yet to receive a floor vote.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan proposal \u2014 the Housing in the 21st Century Act<\/a> \u2014 was approved by the House Financial Services Committee by a 50-1 vote in December. It also has yet to receive a floor vote.<\/p>\n

The bill is similar to its twin in the Senate, with Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) working across the aisle with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). If approved, it would cut permitting times, support manufactured-housing development and expand financing tools for low-income housing developers.<\/p>\n

There was also a recent moment of unusual alignment<\/a> between the president and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who both promised to crack down on corporate home buying.<\/p>\n

What do the experts say?<\/h4>\n

Housing experts recoiled at GOP proposals to bar housing dollars from sanctuary jurisdictions and cities that impose rent control.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny conditioning on HUD funding that sets up rules that explicitly carve out blue cities is going to be really catastrophic for California\u2019s larger urban areas,\u201d said David Garcia, deputy director of policy at UC Berkeley\u2019s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.<\/p>\n

More than 35 cities in California have rent control policies, according to the California Apartment Assn. The state passed its own rent stabilization law in 2019, and lawmakers approved a California sanctuary law in 2017 that prohibits state resources from aiding federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

The agenda comes on the heels of a series of HUD spending cuts, including a 30% cap on permanent housing investments and the end of a federal emergency housing voucher program<\/a> that local homelessness officials estimate would put 14,500 people on the streets.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles County, HUD dollars make up about 28% of homelessness funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would undermine a lot of the bipartisan efforts that are happening in the House and the Senate to move evidence-backed policy to increase housing supply and stabilize rents and home prices,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s mortgage directives also prompted skepticism from some experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFannie Mae and Freddie Mac were pressed to get into the riskier parts of the mortgage market back in the housing bubble and that was a part of the problem,\u201d said Eric McGhee, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California.<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A closer look at competing plans for expanding housing and reining in costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1405138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7867,22,27],"tags":[8317,7601],"feature":[],"location":[],"type-of-work":[7197],"coauthors":[7481],"class_list":["post-1405137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-politics","category-news","category-politics","tag-housing","tag-network","type-of-work-news"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"7867","primary_tag":8317,"print_workflow_body":"","print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":"","really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.twincities.com\/2026\/02\/08\/housing-costs-are-crippling-many-americans-heres-how-the-two-parties-propose-to-fix-that","id":"cG9zdDoyNDQ2NDQ1","siteName":"Sharing Dash","syndicationSourceStack":[{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.twincities.com\/2026\/02\/08\/housing-costs-are-crippling-many-americans-heres-how-the-two-parties-propose-to-fix-that","id":"cG9zdDoyNDQ2NDQ1","siteName":"Sharing Dash","sourceUrl":"https:\/\/sharingdash.medianewsgroup.com"}],"source_url":"https:\/\/sharingdash.medianewsgroup.com"},"market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":1405138,"title":"202601290415MCT_____PHOTO____US-NEWS-HOUSING-COSTS-POLITICS-GET","filename":"202601290415MCT_____PHOTO____US-NEWS-HOUSING-COSTS-POLITICS-GET.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/202601290415MCT_____PHOTO____US-NEWS-HOUSING-COSTS-POLITICS-GET.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/08\/housing-costs-are-crippling-many-americans-heres-how-the-two-parties-propose-to-fix-that\/attachment\/1405138\/","alt":"","author":"14","description":"","caption":"An American flag flies near new home construction at a housing development in the Phoenix suburbs on June 9, 2023, in Queen Creek, Arizona. 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