FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2026
Contact: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Meghan Schneider, media@taxgreed.org
Tax & Housing Experts: Trump Executive Order Acknowledges Billionaire Role in Housing Crisis, but Falls Short on Solutions
New Memo Highlights How Housing EO Fails to Address Extreme Wealth Powering Complex Web of Billionaire Tactics
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, the Trump administration acknowledged skyrocketing housing costs and the role billionaire control plays in pricing families out of homes. This comes after the president has tried to downplay affordability issues, revealing that the administration may feel vulnerable ahead of the midterms.
The president’s Executive Order represents a rare moment of bipartisan recognition that extreme concentrations of wealth are fueling America’s affordability crisis, but it does not do enough to meaningfully address extreme wealth. In response, Tax the Greedy Billionaires, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund issued a memo highlighting how the narrow scope of the Order fails to address the complex set of tactics billionaires use to rig the housing market and enrich themselves.
Leaders from the groups issued the following statements:
“This executive order highlights the real issue facing our housing system: Extreme wealth has grown so concentrated that a small group of billionaires can distort entire markets,” said Igor Volsky, campaign director for Tax the Greedy Billionaires. “We cannot fix the housing affordability crisis by nibbling around the edges. We need bold action to tax extreme wealth—implementing wealth taxes on billionaires and closing the loopholes that allow them to hoard resources while working families struggle to afford homes.”
“Private equity billionaires are exploiting every level of our housing system to enrich themselves, not just single-family housing,” said Sam Garin, spokesperson for the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. “If we want to meaningfully address the housing crisis plaguing the U.S., the federal government must also enact robust, visionary solutions that rein in corporate landlords and empower tenants of apartments, manufactured housing, and beyond.
“We cannot help the millions of families struggling with an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis without tackling the growing economic and racial inequality,” said Caroline Nagy, Associate Director of Housing at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Eliminating the mountain of tax giveaways to private equity and corporate landlords who exert far too much control over our housing must be part of our response to this crisis.”
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