Leading up to Inauguration Day, there are many issues for President-elect Trump to tackle. None are more pressing than affordable housing.
First off, mortgage rates have skyrocketed in recent years — from under 3 percent in 2020 to nearly 7 percent today. U.S. home prices have risen nearly 50 percent over the last four years, further pricing out potential homebuyers who can’t even afford once-attainable starter homes. Indeed, U.S. home sales have slowed to their weakest pace in almost 14 years.
Then there are renters. Tens of millions of Americans are now considered “rent-burdened,” spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Over 12 million Americans spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent, and the United States is short roughly 7 million affordable, available rental homes.
Today’s housing affordability crisis is unprecedented, and the fact that mainstream discourse largely ignores the problem is unconscionable. Much of the country is priced out of affordable housing, and yet Trump’s pick for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Scott Turner, for those keeping track) is barely back-page news. Why is Trump not raising the issue more, given the overwhelming mandate to take action?
In certain ways, the 2024 presidential candidates tried to provide answers, even finding agreement at a time of intense polarization. Both Kamala Harris and Trump (to a lesser extent) advocated for new construction on the campaign trail, with Harris proposing 3 million new affordable housing units and Trump calling for the opening of more federal land for housing purposes (Harris agreed).
This is the beginning only. Housing is a human right, and Trump must govern with that basic assumption in mind. If he ignores affordable housing while in office, it will be a catastrophic failure.
But let’s be clear: Although new construction is necessary, the affordable housing crisis cannot be solved simply by building from scratch. Far too often, local regulations make it impossible to build efficiently and cost-effectively, choking a development process that is anything but streamlined. In cities like Miami and Los Angeles, whose residents desperately need affordable housing, projects get stuck regularly. Entitlement approvals can take years. New construction can take a decade, if approval is even granted — and that is a big “if.”
Millions of Americans can’t afford to wait years for reprieve. The clock is ticking for Trump to do the right thing.
Which brings us to adaptive reuse. And yet, “adaptive reuse” — the creative repurposing of historic hotels, commercial spaces and other older buildings — was never uttered on the campaign trail. Despite a seemingly endless inventory of existing buildings that could provide affordable housing (think wasted office space in Manhattan), adaptive reuse remains underutilized. There are thousands of unused buildings across America that could house low-income residents, without even factoring in new construction.
Let’s capitalize on this inventory. Adaptive reuse should be at the top of the affordable housing priority list for the Trump administration.
One place to start is to expand the tax incentives available to builders who hope to adaptive reuse for affordable housing. Boosting the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — a tax break for developers — should inevitably increase the affordable rental supply.
Regulatory reform is also important, given the fertility of the adaptive reuse landscape. According to some projections, 90 percent of U.S. real estate growth within the next 10 years may entail the adaptive reuse of existing buildings rather than new construction. Cities and towns should ride the wave and expedite the regulatory approval process.
There are viable role models, such as Dallas, where the mission to move quickly on affordable housing projects is transparent and effective. Working with Dallas city officials (as I have) includes early meetings with regulatory officials before a project is submitted for approval, and the page quickly turns from application to approval. Direct, real-time communication with the city manager’s office and other entities is standard operating procedure.
Transparency should be the status quo in every locality. Democrat or Republican, there is absolutely no reason for a city like Miami or LA to delay, delay, delay.
As Trump 2.0 comes to Washington, D.C., presidential leadership is needed on affordable housing, and that includes a greater emphasis on adaptive reuse. This also involves a formal Trump proposal on housing for all to see, and we have yet to see one. Where is his plan?
Federal action on housing should not include, as feared, steep budget cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a leading voice for housing affordability. That would be a depressing signal for Trump to send.
Without all hands on deck for affordable housing, we will never address America’s most pressing issue. The ball is in the Trump administration’s court.
Margi Glavovic Nothard is the founder and design director of Glavovic Studio, with offices in Florida and California.
