OPINION:
President Trump is right to call out Congress for getting its priorities backward.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to the president’s desk for his signature. It contains several worthwhile reforms that could help make housing more affordable for American families, and it deserves serious consideration.
Yet the president is correct that Congress should first pass the SAVE America Act, one of his top legislative priorities, before turning its attention to broader housing legislation.
That is not an indictment of the housing bill. It is simply a recognition that governing requires setting priorities.
As chair of the Election Integrity Center at the America First Policy Institute, I understand why Mr. Trump has prioritized the SAVE America Act. Confidence in our elections is the foundation of representative government. Before the country turns to important but secondary matters such as housing reform, it should first finish the work of strengthening Americans’ confidence in the integrity of federal elections.
Once it does, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act deserves consideration. It takes a far more constructive approach than many of the housing proposals Americans became accustomed to during the Biden administration.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the bill is what it does not do: perpetuate the Biden-era norm of throwing more housing red tape on the private sector.
For years, the Biden administration framed the housing affordability crisis as a story of bad actors. Corporate landlords and artificial-intelligence-based property management software were repeatedly blamed for rising rents.
In reality, President Biden and his congressional allies created the affordable housing shortage with their overreaching immigration, regulatory and inflationary agendas. Rather than confront their own overzealous policies, Mr. Biden and his allies blamed people outside government.
The result was a series of proposals focused on lawsuits, regulations and government intervention that did not address the basic reality that housing is expensive because there are not enough homes.
The ROAD to Housing Act avoids that trap.
Instead of blaming landlords and instead of treating technology as the villain, the legislation aims to expand housing supply, modernize housing programs, reduce unnecessary regulatory barriers, encourage new construction and make it easier for communities to build more homes. These are market-based reforms that will increase competition and address the root causes of the housing affordability crisis.
That is a refreshing change.
Housing markets function like any other market. When supply fails to keep up with demand, prices rise. The long-term solution is not to prohibit software or invent new villains. It is to make it easier to build homes, reduce unnecessary costs and remove barriers that prevent supply from growing.
Congress deserves credit for recognizing that reality.
That does not mean every provision of the legislation is perfect. Reasonable people can disagree over individual policies or suggest improvements.
Still, the bill begins with the correct premise: America will not solve its housing crisis by blaming the private sector. It will solve it by cleaning up the regulatory mess created by the federal government.
President Trump is therefore right on two fronts. First, the country should focus on its legislative priorities, beginning with the SAVE America Act, before moving to broader housing reform.
Second, get the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act over the finish line. If Congress keeps the bill focused on expanding supply rather than scapegoating, it can enact one of the most market-oriented housing reforms Washington has considered in years.
• Ken Blackwell is chair of election integrity at America First Policy Institute and a former Ohio state treasurer.
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