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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is making affordability a focal point of his agenda as the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender moves to tackle housing costs — seizing on an issue that hurt Democrats politically while converging with pieces of President Donald Trump’s deregulatory housing agenda before the midterms.
Newsom’s biggest recent housing reforms in California came before Trump’s March 2026 executive order on regulatory barriers, but the two are pushing some of the same ideas, including faster approvals, fewer regulatory hurdles and more housing construction.
“This is a pattern that we’ve seen a couple times with Democrats, where they will fight tooth and nail against economic common sense, but if it starts pulling the wrong way for them, then they’ll come around to reality. So you know he’s focusing on a lot of things that Trump has been championing,” economist Peter St. Onge told Fox News Digital. “…These are things that the free-market economists have been championing for decades.”
St. Onge said while Newsom’s “transformation has been certainly striking,” California’s struggle to rebuild after the Palisades fire underscores whether that shift will translate into results.
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“We saw this with the Palisades fires where thousands of houses were burned. And people go through… and look at exactly how many houses are under construction and it’s pretty close to zero. The regulatory blockade is insurmountable,” said St. Onge.
Newsom has embraced some of the same supply-side housing tools Trump has pushed nationally, including faster approvals, fewer regulatory barriers and efforts to reduce construction costs. California enacted its major recent reforms in June 2025, before Trump issued a housing-specific executive order targeting regulatory barriers in March 2026.
The push comes after Democrats notched big wins in 2025 by campaigning on affordability, reclaiming ground on an issue that had worked in Trump’s favor in 2024.
The Golden State governor signed a housing package in June 2025 to exempt certain projects from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and streamline environmental review for qualifying housing and infrastructure development. Some Coastal Commission housing appeals were limited and new residential building standards through 2031 were placed on hold.
Newsom followed those changes in July by signing another housing package aimed at streamlining affordable-housing financing and project reviews.
“We can’t speak to the Trump administration’s approach, because he hasn’t done anything. Trump’s failed economic policies and tariffs (also called taxes on Americans) have increased prices and shut down supply chains – slowing building across the country,” Newsom director of communications Tara Gallegos told Fox News Digital when approached for comment.
“In contrast, in California, Governor Newsom has enacted historic reforms in California to boost affordability, accelerate housing production, and hold local governments accountable for planning and building the housing their communities need,” Gallegos added.
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Trump already made reducing regulatory barriers to home construction part of his federal housing agenda. He signed an executive order in March directing agencies to identify ways to speed permitting, reduce regulatory costs and encourage state and local governments to ease barriers to new construction.
The White House’s Economic Report of the President, published in April, went further by recommending specific state and local reforms, including by-right approval for code-compliant projects, deadlines of no more than 60 days for a right-to-build decision and 30 days for later permits and inspections, limits on certain fees, third-party inspections and fewer green-energy mandates.
“Unlike incompetent Governor Gavin Newscum, President Trump has been laser-focused on making housing more affordable. The President signed an Executive Order prohibiting large Wall Street firms from purchasing single-family homes, directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds that helped drive rates to four-year lows, and cut unnecessary red tape at a historic pace to boost supply, speed construction, and lower costs,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital .
“The President will not stop fighting until the American Dream of homeownership is within reach for every American, which is why he continues to sign bold new executive orders and calls on Congress to pass further legislation,” added Ingle.
John Gibbs, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies Director at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that housing is better handled by state and local governments.
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“While California’s recent efforts to streamline approvals and limit local barriers to development reflect policies to increase housing supply that many economists across the political spectrum support, it is important to recognize that housing supply is ultimately governed primarily by state and local governments, not Washington,” said Gibbs.
The president and governor both have different powers in their pockets they can use.
Newsom can directly use state power to override local zoning, streamline CEQA/permitting and pressure cities to build. Trump’s levers are largely federal — mortgage finance, federal regulation, GSEs and incentives/guidance to states.
“Federal policymakers have far greater control over demand-driven housing policies such as mortgage guarantees, federal mortgage insurance programs, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), and monetary policy, than they do over local zoning and land-use decisions,” Gibbs explained.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Judge Glock also Fox News Digital there are contrasts to the president and Newsom’s plans.
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“One problem is that many of Newsom’s housing laws contain handouts to unions or to environmental groups that further drive-up housing prices, such as requirements for union labor or for solar-paneled roofs,” said Glock. “The Trump administration, by contrast, has tried to limit such requirements for new housing.”
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“The Trump administration has also focused more on trying to expand cities outward and allowing more single-family homes, while Newsom has focused on densifying existing areas and building more apartments,” he added.
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