Recommend

President Donald Trump directs HUD, the EPA, the USDA and others to remove barriers to affordable residential construction.

The Trump administration, via a March 13, 2026 executive order (EO), took steps seeking to reduce regulatory barriers that delay housing construction and increase housing costs.

The EO directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), among others, to remove barriers to affordable residential construction. These agencies, according to the EO, "shall, within their respective authorities, take appropriate action to reform and, where appropriate, eliminate unduly burdensome or costly energy-efficiency, water-use, or alternative-energy requirements regarding housing …"

The President also directed the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue guidance maximizing the use of categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for housing construction and related activities. The EO requires the HUD Secretary to, within 60 days, develop a set of regulatory best practices for state and local governments to promote housing construction and affordability.

LeadingAge has advocated for a long list of regulatory reform recommendations to streamline environmental and programmatic review processes that delay the development and preservation of affordable senior housing to the Trump administration and looks forward to working with HUD as it meets the directives of this EO.

Read the EO here and a White House EO fact sheet here.