The biggest split in America’s housing debate isn’t left versus right—it’s between people who understand supply and demand and people who don’t. Most researchers, from free-market economists to left-leaning urban planners, agree that the best way to reduce housing costs is to reform regulations that limit the supply of homes. But these days, politicians in both parties are pushing the opposite message, saying that the way to slash costs is to punish landlords and investors.
President Donald Trump embraced the populist approach last week when he pledged to limit corporate investors from buying single-family homes. “People live in homes, not corporations,” he said on Truth Social, suggesting that buyers such as private-equity giant Blackstone have driven up prices and pushed the dream of homeownership out of reach for young families. Trump is preparing an executive order to implement the new restrictions and says he will ask Congress to codify them further.
Covering the left flank in the assault on landlords is New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The 34-year-old democratic socialist pledged in his campaign to “freeze the rent” of certain buildings, which would depress investment and drive overall rents upward. Yet in his first week in office, Mamdani announced an even more destructive policy. He revived the previously shuttered Office to Protect Tenants, and committed to bring more buildings under permanent public ownership by pressuring landlords to sell distressed properties.
