The math has stopped working for millions of Americans trying to buy a home. Rent eats the budget, mortgage rates have climbed, and the down payment keeps slipping further out of reach. The usual explanations blame greedy builders or landlords. The real story is government policy that restricts construction, drives up building costs, and piles on demand for homes that were never allowed to be built.
Recent polling found 90 percent of Americans believe housing costs are rising faster than wages. That’s not a partisan talking point — it’s nearly everyone. The same poll found 88 percent support more workforce training to get qualified construction workers on job sites, and 69 percent support cutting regulations and permitting delays so builders can actually build.
A shortage years in the making
America was short on housing long before the border crisis made things worse. Townhall columnist Jared Whitley has summarized estimates placing the shortage at four million to seven million homes, the product of years of under-building, restrictive zoning, slow permitting, and local opposition to new development. The estimates vary, but the conclusion doesn’t: more people need homes than the market has been allowed to supply.
Then came the demand shock
On top of that shortage, years of open borders added fuel to the fire. HUD Secretary Scott Turner laid it out on Fox News in July:
“When we first came in with President Trump, we had open borders. We had tens of millions of illegals in our country. That made housing prices go up about 30 percent rental prices go up 20 percent. And, you know, here in America we prioritize American people, and American people only. American houses are for American people especially HUD-funded houses.”
A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas working paper released this summer backs up the real-world pain renters have been describing for years: every 1 percent increase in illegal alien workers in an area was tied to roughly a 2.2 percent increase in home prices and a 1.4 percent jump in rents. The researchers found no meaningful increase in new housing permits to match that added demand — meaning prices simply rose against a fixed supply.
Government adds cost before a single wall goes up
Zoning dictates what can be built and where. Permitting delays force builders to pay carrying costs on land they can’t yet use. Rules that ban smaller lots or alternative housing types eliminate affordable options before buyers ever get a look at them.
The fix isn’t a mystery. A 2025 Pew Research paper found that markets which expanded housing supply by 10 percent between 2017 and 2023 saw roughly 5 percent rent declines between 2017 and 2024. When renters have somewhere else to go, landlords lose their leverage.
Washington took a step, but city hall is the real holdup
Congress passed housing legislation in July addressing permitting, environmental review, and zoning practices. But federal action only goes so far — local land-use restrictions and permitting requirements, flagged by RedState’s Ward Clark, remain the biggest roadblocks. Washington can set a direction, but if state capitols and city councils keep saying no, little changes.
America First Policy Institute’s January 2026 housing survey recommends rewarding jurisdictions that clear away building barriers, speeding up construction timelines, and expanding skilled-trades training. The country needs more electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC technicians, and construction workers to actually build the homes that are missing. Apprenticeships and career education give young Americans a direct path into those trades and the ability to support a family.
There’s also a simple fix for renters trying to become buyers: 89 percent of those surveyed support counting timely rent payments toward the credit history used for a mortgage application. Someone who pays rent on time every month should be able to use that record — without lenders abandoning sound underwriting standards.
The Trump administration and Congress are working to clear away the obstacles standing between Americans and homeownership, and the public is overwhelmingly behind it. Cut the red tape, reduce the fees, and let builders build enough homes to give families real choices again.
