Interior, HUD targets public land for housing 

The Trump Administration announced plans to build new housing on federal land. The initiative represents a new partnership between the Department of the Interior and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that aims to identify underused federal property for state and local housing developments to offset the national housing shortage. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and HUD Secretary Scott Turner released a video signing the agreement and touting the plan as a step towards improving housing affordability.  

“Working together, our agencies can take inventory of underused federal properties, transfer or lease them to states or localities to address housing needs, and support the infrastructure required to make development viable,” Burgum and Turner wrote in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal, “all while ensuring affordability remains at the core of the mission.” 

The two agency heads also stressed the importance of reducing red tape for building efforts on federal land by streamlining and reducing existing regulatory restrictions. Utilizing public land for new housing developments has some preexisting support, however, it also faces some known challenges. 

“There’s plenty of land, no doubt, but the trick is releasing the right land in the right places,” said Pete Carroll, Executive, Public Policy and Industry Relations at CoreLogic. According to the Wall Street Journal, 7.3% of all federal land falls within areas that are facing housing shortages. Further, local opposition to development and environmental concerns complicate the success of plans. However, some areas, like Nevada, have already successfully worked on affordable housing projects utilizing federal land sales. 

Support for CDFIs shown across industry 



After an unexpected cut to the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) last week via executive order, lawmakers and advocates have expressed strong support for the fund that finances the development of over two million affordable housing units and $2 billion in mortgages.  

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led a letter with the support of 23 senators emphasizing the critical role that CDFIs play in communities across the country.  

“Over 1,400 CDFIs represent a significant portion of America’s financial services sector, delivering over $300 billion in financial services each year to urban and rural communities across every state,” the senators wrote. “Each year, CDFIs provide affordable growth capital to over 100,000 small businesses and finance over $100 billion in residential real estate, bringing down the cost of housing through new construction and affordable home mortgages. The important work of the CDFI sector is strengthened by the CDFI Fund, which provides seed funding to new CDFIs, grows the capacity of existing CDFIs, and provides oversight to ensure federal dollars are spent appropriately. Elimination of key CDFI Fund functions would undermine this important progress, including for small businesses and homeowners.”  

Independent Community Bankers of America sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that shares the extensive track record of CDFIs in low- and moderate-income areas, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach communities.  

The CDFI Coalition issued a statement that expresses concern with the new executive order requiring federal agencies to eliminate non-statutory functions. The statement asserts that the CDFI fund has a statutory basis in the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 and cites President Trump’s own Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, which directed $324 million in appropriations for the CDFI Fund in FY24. The statement goes on to emphasize the fund’s broad bipartisan support and urges lawmakers from both parties to reaffirm their support for the CDFI Fund. 

Federal Reserve holds rate steady

The Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) announced that it will leave its target federal funds rate unchanged, maintaining the range of 4.25% - 4.5% which it has held since December. The announcement comes as the economy has continued to grow at a solid pace but nonetheless faces heightened uncertainty due to President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on a wide range of foreign goods and consequential slowdown of consumer spending.  

Though the outlook for further cuts in the rate remains somewhat optimistic, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has cautioned that changes in monetary policy are possible in the near future should conditions change. 

“If the economy remains strong, and inflation does not continue to move sustainably toward 2%, we can maintain policy restraint for longer,” he said. “If the labor market were to weaken unexpectedly, or inflation were to fall more quickly than anticipated, we can ease policy accordingly.” 

HUD announces forthcoming new website 

A new version of HUD.gov is in development and will be unveiled soon, according to an email sent to HUD staff by Chief of Staff Andrew Hughes, who was recently nominated for HUD Deputy Secretary.  

“We heard loud and clear from the American public that HUD.gov in its current state does not meet their needs,” the email read, citing over 130,000 documents and web pages on the current site. “The new HUD.gov website will focus first and foremost on the American public. It will have a cleaner and simpler design geared toward our partners and most vulnerable populations.” 

Many web pages on HUD.gov are currently giving errors or redirects, and some note that the page is under renovation. NHC is working to restore access to deleted pages and is posting them on the Housing Resource Center. There were no details of an official launch date for the new website. 

Congressional Democrats send letter supporting fair housing 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) delivered a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner urging him to reverse course on making significant cuts to fair housing initiatives. The letter responds to reports of major cost-cutting efforts being undertaken at HUD, in partnership with DOGE, including drastic reductions in funding to fair housing organizations across the country estimated at $30 million. The letter was co-signed by 106 other Democratic Members of Congress. 

In previous weeks, the Trump Administration has taken several steps towards reducing the scope of HUD’s fair housing initiatives as part of a broader effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in federal agencies. Thus far, these actions have included removing gender identity and sexual orientation protections in housing and cancelling nearly half of HUD’s fair housing grants. The administration has also announced plans to fire upwards of 77% of staff at HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. 

Congressional Democrats warned in their letter that these actions will deepen housing inequality along racial lines and exacerbate housing discrimination against marginalized communities. 

“We write to express deep concern regarding your recent actions and reported plans for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the effect of your actions on the Department’s ability to fulfill its statutory obligation to enforce our nation’s fair housing and civil rights law,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Several fair housing groups have filed lawsuits against HUD and DOGE, arguing that the elimination of fair housing grants was arbitrary and unlawful.