The country faces a housing shortage, but President Donald Trump is working to address it, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said Thursday.
"When we came in with President Trump last year, our fiscal house in the United States was a complete mess," Turner told Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," noting high interest rates and inflation.
"Affordability was at an all-time low," he said.
"When we came in, we wanted to take down burdensome regulations that were crippling and burden and development."
Taking down the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule allowed local control to be returned to municipalities, Turner said.
"We've been encouraging leaders to look at their burdensome regulatory environment to help unleash building and construction and development," he said.
"We need about 7 million units of housing in our country: single family, multifamily, manufactured housing, duplex," Turner added.
"We've been working very hard under President Trump's leadership to tear down burdensome regulations, to get the interest rates down, to bring mortgage rates down — which are at an all-time low right now — helping more people afford homes."
He said young people have told him they are concerned about ever being able to afford a home.
"But there's good news on the horizon, as you see some of these policy changes being made and the economy thriving under President Trump," Turner said.
Having 12 million illegal aliens coming across the border also has hurt the housing supply, Turner said.
"It makes the cost of housing go up in certain cities around our country, in particular L.A. and New York," he said.
"We've been taking measures at HUD to make sure that any HUD funds that pertain to housing are for the American people and American people only," Turner added.
"The president has taken bold action, as you've seen."
Turner said HUD is also working to help more middle-class families be able to afford a down payment for a home.
"One thing that will help, that is when you bring the mortgage rates down, people can borrow money at a lesser rate," he said.
"So you don't have to put as much down."
Turner said higher interest rates will only keep people out of their homes.
"Interest rates, as you've seen, have come down. They need to come down," he said.
"More mortgage rates have come down. They need to continue to come down," Turner said.
"But there is still much work to be done."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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