Can't afford a house? Too bad, says Trump.

A roofer works on a new home in Phoenix.

During a predictably uninformative Cabinet meeting Thursday, President Donald Trump offered up some monumentally worthless remarks about the cost of housing in the United States.

“Existing housing, people that own their homes, we're going to keep them wealthy. We're going to keep those prices up,” Trump said. “We're not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn't work very hard can buy a home.”

Having disparaged tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford to own a home in today’s economy—regardless of how hard they work—Trump offered up his nonexistent plan for affordability: lowering interest rates.

But if you can’t afford a 10% or 20% downpayment, don’t worry—Trump has no intention of making it any easier. 

“I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that's what's going to happen,” he said.

Trump: "People that own their homes -- we're gonna keep them wealthy. We're gonna keep those prices up. We're not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody who didn't work very hard can buy a home." pic.twitter.com/FlyaHZAspa

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2026

According to a recent study by loan platform LendingTree, renting is now cheaper than owning a home in every major metropolitan area. At the same time, Americans who already cannot afford to buy homes are facing rising costs on nearly everything—regardless of Trump’s delusion that he’s “solved” the affordability crises his own economic moves have exacerbated. 

The good news, according to Trump, is that if you already own a home, he wants you to “feel like” you are “wealthy,” even if you aren’t. 

As for the rest of us, I guess we can all start collecting cans.