Housing Policy

Trump Cuts Red Tape

Plus: An effective build-to-rent ban advances in Congress and Florida expands one of the country's most successful zoning reforms.

Christian Britschgi | 3.17.2026 3:25 PM

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Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another edition of Rent Free. This week's newsletter includes stories on:

Trump Issues Housing Affordability Executive Order

This past Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at reducing barriers to affordable housing construction.

"Layers of unnecessary regulatory barriers, slow permitting processes, and onerous mandates at all levels of government have delayed construction, restricted development, and driven up the costs of new housing….It is the policy of my Administration to reduce regulatory barriers to building homes and to steward taxpayer dollars in a manner that promotes housing affordability," reads the president's order.

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The order calls on federal agencies to pare back federal energy efficiency mandates and environmental regulations, streamline environmental and historic preservation processes where they intersect with housing and housing-serving infrastructure, and publish local and state best regulatory practices.

In contrast to some of the housing supply orders and white papers issued by the Biden administration, there's little to no mention of enabling more infill development in "high-opportunity" areas.

The general thrust of the order is to pare back federal rules that drive up the cost and delivery time of new single-family, greenfield (or, if you prefer, sprawl) development, particularly environmental rules and permitting requirements.

"These are areas that the federal government actually controls and which rolling back can actually have a material impact on housing costs," says the Manhattan Institute's Judge Glock, highlighting the administration's proposed streamlining of stormwater regulations as a potential major source of construction cost savings.

Through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal government requires developments that disturb an acre or more of land to obtain construction permits that come with a long list of regulations intended to reduce pollution from stormwater runoff.

The regulations themselves, which can include requirements for detention ponds and silt fences, raise construction costs.

The EPA's stormwater requirements have also encouraged local........

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