Trump's housing chief stresses cutting rules as aiding buyers

Katy O'Donnell, Bloomberg News on Sep 11, 2026

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The Trump administration is trying to help Americans better afford homes by cutting regulation, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said Thursday on Bloomberg Television.

But he declined to address the effects of rising bond yields that have increased borrowing costs.

“The president made the promise when he came in – and all of us in the administration – to get the cost of housing down, and a big part of that was the regulatory environment, to cut the red tape, to cut the bureaucracy,” Turner said in an interview on the sidelines of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

As evidence, Turner pointed to rescinding the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation, which he said had “really made HUD a national zoning board.” The rule, proposed during the Biden administration, would have required localities to track and address patterns of segregation in their communities in order to receive federal funds. The Biden White House never finalized it.

On Wednesday, Turner gave a speech in Dallas about efforts to uncover fraud at HUD.

He said in the interview Thursday that the administration was “glad” and “grateful” that the bipartisan housing legislation passed this summer became law – even though President Donald Trump refused to sign it.

Republicans are defending their narrow majorities in Congress in November amid widespread voter concerns about the rising cost of living. The Trump administration has pursued a grab-bag of affordability policies in fits and starts this year, even as the war in Iran has sent energy prices surging.

Trump – who has also dismissed cost-of-living concerns as a “hoax” – on Wednesday sought to revive the White House’s intermittent affordability campaign with a pledge to give Americans a $5,000 dividend if the GOP retains control of the House and Senate following the Nov. 3 election.

“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump implored listeners during his prime-time speech at the convention on Wednesday night. “I’m on just one more time.”

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(With assistance from Kailey Leinz.)

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