This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Washington Examiner on Labor Day that the Trump administration may declare a national housing emergency in the coming months to address the affordability crisis. Bessent’s comments come just ahead of an expected interest-rate cut cycle, underscoring the administration’s urgent effort to address the affordability crisis, which is set to be one of the key topics ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Bessent joined the Washington Examiner for breakfast on Labor Day at McLean Family Restaurant on Monday. He told the outlet that President Trump plans to make “affordability” a critical pillar of America First’s 2026 midterm election platform.
“We may declare a national housing emergency in the fall,” Bessent told the Washington Examiner.
A toxic combination of elevated mortgage rates and record-high home prices has sparked one of the worst housing affordability crises in a generation, sidelining many working-class folks from homeownership.
“We’re trying to figure out what we can do, and we don’t want to step into the business of states, counties, and municipal governments,” Bessent noted, adding, “I think everything is on the table.”
The Treasury Secretary did not elaborate on specific actions Trump could take, but he did mention officials within the administration are analyzing ways to standardize local building and zoning codes and decrease closing costs. He added that the possibility of considering some tariff exemptions for housing materials will be considered.
“I think we’re going to see a big economic pickup in 2026,” Bessent continued. “This very, very, very nice young lady here, who’s had this restaurant for 32 years, she’s going to get a large tax refund of the ‘No Tax on Tips.’ So 2026 is going to be a good year.”
Another way the Trump administration is seeking to boost housing supply is by removing illegal aliens from federal housing assistance programs. In addition, efforts to restore law and order in crime-ridden, Democrat-controlled cities could also free up housing stock.
We’ll leave readers with one chart that shows America’s “civilization crisis“…
America First is about rebuilding the middle class after globalists spent decades chipping away at the working class that built this nation. Making homeownership, family, and country “Great Again” seems to be all the rage today – especially on the internet.
“We’re trying to figure out what we can do,” says Bessent. How about nothing? Government created the current housing situation through its incessant meddling in the free market. Intervening and doing even more meddling to “fix” the problem will only make it worse. Machiavelli informs us that “when a problem becomes so big everyone can see it, the time for remedies has passed.” The best course of action is for government to do nothing, allow the situation to run its course and then let the free market do the fixing.
Also, whenever the government declares a “national emergency” on anything, prices always go up. If a housing emergency is declared this fall, expect housing prices to skyrocket further.