Make safe, dignified housing available and affordable
A nation cannot call itself just while over 770,000 of its people sleep without a roof over their heads every night. The housing crisis is not an accident; it is the result of policy choices that placed profit over people. Skyrocketing rents, unchecked speculation, and a system that treats shelter as a commodity instead of a necessity have left too many Americans without a dignified place to call home.
The housing crisis will not solve itself. We must invest in affordable housing, strengthen tenant protections, and curb corporate landlords who hoard empty units while families struggle. No one should remain indefinitely homeless in the wealthiest country in the world.
A stable home is the foundation of health, education, and opportunity. When people are housed, communities thrive, crime decreases, and economies grow. The right to shelter is as fundamental as the right to food or clean water.
Project 2029 is proposing bold action to confront the housing crisis head-on and help more Americans secure a roof over their head. Whether you’re a person experiencing homelessness, a young person looking to move out of your parents’ home and into your first apartment, or a disabled person seeking ADA-compliant housing, every American must have access to a dignified living space that suits their needs. Our housing plan calls for:
Repealing Executive Order 14238 to reinstitute the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. This council is responsible for developing practical tools to support the implementation of Housing First. The Department of Housing and Urban Development must also be directed to prevent the use of prerequisites that undermine the demonstrated success of the Housing First approach. Work requirements, time-limited benefits, and prescribed rent increases set as prerequisites or conditions for access to Housing First programs and services have been proven ineffective time and again. Housing First works. Prerequisites and policies that ignore structural barriers in the housing market do not.
Extending Housing First strategies to support homeless youth, particularly LGBTQ+ youth, by directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in coordination with Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, to launch a federally funded Rapid Rehousing model for homeless youth. Under this model, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide emergency grants through its Continuum of Care and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Programs, with explicit language prioritizing vulnerable groups including LGBTQ+ youth, who often face familial abandonment and stigma. HHS can also expand transitional housing and mental health services via existing Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) funds. The Department of Education shall issue guidance under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to ensure schools identify and support unhoused LGBTQ+ students with housing referrals and protections.
Using the budget reconciliation process to expand mandatory funding for the National Housing Trust Fund, with dedicated annual allocations to support the construction, preservation, and operation of deeply affordable housing for households with incomes below 30% of the area median income. Such funding can remain fully within the scope of reconciliation rules, as the NHTF receives mandatory appropriations from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, which are considered mandatory spending provisions. Funding shall be tied to measurable housing outcomes, including the number of units delivered and the income eligibility of households served.
Using existing federal housing finance tools to discourage concentrated housing market ownership by institutional investors in vulnerable areas while protecting first-time buyers, small landlords, and mission-driven housing providers. Specifically, a future administration must direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to impose higher fees, tax disincentives, or stricter capital requirements on large-scale investors, especially those operating in vulnerable neighborhoods, to encourage competitive housing markets. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, together with the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, and Treasury, must prevent anti-competitive practices by identifying areas at risk of rental market concentration, ensuring nonprofits and public agencies can operate freely, and by expanding beneficial ownership disclosure to cover domestic entities.
Expanding and guaranteeing sustainable funding for rental assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program to serve all eligible American.
Passing Congressional legislation to create a federally-funded, state-administered renters’ tax credit. Homeowners benefit from a mortgage income tax deduction. Renters must as well. Federal income eligibility can be utilized to target the lowest-income households and allow states to deliver the credits within their policy preferences, such as targeting families at risk of homelessness, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Passing the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act to make critical reforms to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. The bipartisan AHCIA increases the number of tax credits available to states by 50% for a period of two years to address critical housing supply needs. The Act targets those most at risk of homelessness by providing additional tax credits to housing developers who designate at least 20% of apartments in LIHTC-financed developments to tenants with extremely low incomes through an expansion of the tax credit basis. This will make it more financially feasible for developers to build apartments at rents that are affordable to households with the greatest needs.
Calling upon Congress to require the Department of Transportation funding to incentivize inclusive zoning and land-use reforms and to promote the development of mid-level housing. Executive action can support this effort by identifying immediately actionable opportunities to require local and regional governments to meet inclusive zoning conditions, including removing exclusionary single-family zoning, enabling multi-family housing near transit, and legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Federal scoring criteria shall prioritize projects from jurisdictions demonstrating measurable progress toward fair and inclusive land use.
Issuing an Executive Order establishing a White House Interagency Council on Affordable Housing to coordinate federal housing-related programs and funding streams. The council shall include senior leaders from the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Justice, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The council’s mandate shall follow the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Leading Practices in Collaboration Across Government to align and coordinate federal housing, transportation, infrastructure, land-use, and social service initiatives to maximize impact. The council shall also deliver an inventory of developable federal and state-owned land eligible for housing reuse; EPA brownfields and transit-adjacent lands shall be prioritized for adaptive reuse, while environmentally protected lands and parklands shall be exempt.
Expanding the supply of affordable housing by increasing the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) outdated multifamily loan limits, consistent with the language of the 2025 Housing Affordability Act. This can be accomplished via executive action, as HUD can adjust FHA loan limits through regulatory guidance or rulemaking within its existing statutory authority under the National Housing Act.
Directing Housing and Urban Development to publish an authorized waiver list and expedited guidance package within 180 days to remove unnecessary administrative barriers for eligible affordable housing projects.
Requiring the Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and other relevant agencies to submit to Congress a report on improving collaboration in housing programs, consistent with the language of the bipartisan HUD-USDA-VA Interagency Coordination Act introduced in 2025. This shall include issuing joint interagency guidance to state and local governments to streamline program administration and reduce duplicative approval processes.
Issuing an Executive Order directing Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice to enforce the Fair Housing Act by forming a dedicated Enforcement Unit to uphold the protections of the FHA, challenge unlawful evictions, and enforce related housing policy ordinances.
