The Trump-Turner Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has ended Obama-era legal guidelines that cost builders and owners millions of extra dollars in unnecessary costs.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner believes that one of the primary ways he can help solve the housing crisis in America is by slashing government regulation that makes it so expensive and tedious to build and maintain housing. Builders often have to go through years of red tape and expenditures thanks to excessive government overreach. That, of course, also makes homes more expensive when they go on the market. In fact, it would be wonderful if other government departments started greatly reducing regulations, as that would boost the economy in so many different areas.
But some government regulations can cause owners to worry about having to update their buildings for decades.
Today, HUD ended flawed Obama-era legal guidance that imposed $110 million in extra costs on builders — costs that are passed on to homebuyers and renters.
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) September 1, 2026
This is one more way HUD is taking action to make housing more affordable. pic.twitter.com/IvFSbX2OxM
The Fox News piece that Turner cited in his post explained that the Obama administration had established a rule allowing indefinite filings of complaints related to accessibility regarding original building design flaws. That means that some building owners could end up liable for millions of dollars even if they had no connection to the original builders. And this, then, required various renovations that drove up the prices of buildings and, in the long run, affected the availability of affordable housing.
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HUD estimated that the accessibility retrofits have cost $112 million since the implementation of the guidelines.
Under the updated enforcement framework, the clock for filing Fair Housing Act design and construction challenges begins on the exact date a building receives its official certificate of occupancy… Individuals or advocacy groups now have a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints directly with HUD. For private civil lawsuits filed in federal court, the statute of limitations caps claims at two years from the completion of construction.
Individual tenants can file for updates to their specific rooms under the Fair Housing Act, but otherwise building owners will no longer have to worry about what happened decades in the past. And new builders will no longer have to obsess over what future regulations might bring.
Industry insiders and lenders also report that the Obama-era rules severely choked off financing, with one major affordable multifamily lender attributing more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over the last four years to the guidance, according to internal HUD data. Lenders told the agency that the ongoing uncertainty triggered recurring deal dropouts and discouraged prospective borrowers from pursuing FHA financing altogether.
The new guidance states that the previous version “exceeded the Department’s statutory authority, failed to increase the supply of accessible housing for individuals with disabilities, and imposed an unwarranted and unduly prejudicial burden on American homebuilders.” Now Turner is bringing common sense to HUD.
Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to renew America in this 250th birthday year.
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