Trump Will Intro Plan For 12 MillIion New, Affordable Homes: Adviser
As soaring living costs continue to squeeze American families, one of the most acute pressures remains the nationwide shortage of affordable housing — and President Donald Trump is preparing a sweeping response that could trigger what advisers describe as a historic construction boom.
According to a senior adviser familiar with the plans, the Trump administration is weighing a housing initiative that could incentivize the construction of as many as 12 million new homes over the next decade, a move aimed squarely at restoring affordability and opportunity for working Americans.
“The President has the opportunity in front of him to create possibly the largest housing boom in US history. And I think he has the tools and the personality to accomplish [and] the plans to accomplish it,” Morris Davis, the recently departed chief housing economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told Just the News.
The United States remains mired in a severe housing deficit, with estimates placing the nationwide shortage at roughly 3 million to 5 million homes. For extremely low-income Americans, the crisis is even worse: as of late 2025, the country was short as many as 7.1 million affordable rental units.
That gap, driven by decades of underbuilding, has helped push home prices to record highs and eroded affordability across much of the country. Roughly one-third of U.S. households now spend more than 30% of their income on housing — a threshold commonly used to define financial strain.
Elevated mortgage rates, typically hovering between 6% and 7%, combined with persistently high rents, have further tightened the market. Existing-home sales have plunged to their lowest levels in about 30 years, while first-time buyers are being pushed out longer than ever, with the median age climbing to around 40.
At the same time, analysts have pointed to the role of mass illegal immigration during the Biden administration in worsening the shortage. Millions of new arrivals increased demand for housing without a corresponding increase in supply.
President Trump — joined by Vice President JD Vance — has repeatedly argued that immigration has been a “major factor” in driving up housing costs. Trump has described the Biden-era border policies as a “colossal border invasion” and said his administration’s aggressive deportation efforts are already “freeing up inventory for Americans.”
Davis, who now serves on the board of directors of construction technology company BOXABL, emphasized that supply constraints remain the core problem behind the affordability crisis.
“There are some ideas that are being discussed that are both on the demand side and supply side. The demand side is that the Fed has to lower interest rates. Mortgage rates are too high. With the new Fed chairman, interest rates and mortgage rates will come down. That’s part of the equation,” he told the outlet.
While housing inventory has ticked up slightly and price growth has cooled in some regions, experts caution that the underlying crisis is far from resolved. Structural barriers — including restrictive zoning laws and regulatory red tape — continue to choke new construction and threaten to prolong the shortage.
Davis said boosting supply is non-negotiable.
“The other part of the equation that’s a necessity, is to create more houses. And we think that the President has the capacity with the right plan to create 12 million new houses over the next 10 years. What that will do is make housing attainable for young families,” he said.
According to Pew Research, the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. stood at approximately 14 million as of July 2023. If those individuals are assumed to share housing with an average of three others, roughly 3.5 million housing units are currently occupied by people in the country illegally — a figure conservatives argue has had a direct impact on availability and prices.
In a nationwide address on Dec. 17, President Trump said his administration plans to roll out what he called “some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history” next year.
Officials have floated a range of options under consideration, including opening federal land for affordable housing development, slashing regulatory barriers that drive up construction costs, and exploring mortgage relief strategies. Discussions have also included the prospect of lower interest rates through coordination with the Federal Reserve, though no formal timeline or details have been released, Just the News reported.
With affordability now a defining issue for millions of Americans, the White House is signaling that housing reform will be a centerpiece of President Trump’s second-term domestic agenda.