Before President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) updated its website’s main page to list its accomplishments, including increasing housing affordability, cutting red tape and cracking down on fraud.
According to its website, the president signed an executive order to lower the cost of housing on the first day of his term.
“Since then, income needed to buy a home is down 4 percent and mortgage affordability is at a four-year high,” HUD stated. “Mortgage rates continue to drop as President Trump’s economic agenda gets to work, bringing affordability back for millions of Americans.”
Throughout 2025, HUD helped make housing more affordable for over 1 million homeowners, including first-time homebuyers, the agency stated. Renters have also experienced relief with the national median rents at a four-year low.
HUD also declared its support of a recent executive order that bans large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes with the goal of ensuring more inventory for American families. HUD noted that in December 2025, existing home sales increased over 5 percent, a three-year high.
HUD further stated that it “cut red tape and restored local control” by “slashing” the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing zoning tax and rescinding sub-regulatory policies.
Regarding Opportunity Zones, HUD Secretary Scott Turner visited 13 zones. The Opportunity Zones have “lifted more than 1 million people out of poverty, attracted more than $100 billion in new investments, and increased housing supply by more than 300,000 new residential addresses,” the HUD website stated.
HUD also visited Californians impacted by wildfires, North Carolinians hit by Hurricane Helene and Texans affected by floods, and is administering $12 billion in disaster recovery to communities across the country.
One of HUD’s goals is to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse. Since President Trump took office, “HUD has uncovered $1.9 billion in misplaced funds and cut $250 million in wasteful contracts. HUD also exposed more than $5 billion in potential payment errors, out of over $50 billion in total rental assistance for [fiscal year] 2024, including 200,000 possibly ineligible tenants and 30,000 dead people,” HUD stated.