2026年9月1日 美国东部时间上午9:00 / 福克斯新闻频道
作者：亚历克·舍梅尔
独家首发福克斯新闻： 为应对美国住房负担能力危机，特朗普政府废除了一项饱受争议的奥巴马时代政令，该政令被指推高了房产成本、抑制了保障性住房供应。
美国住房与城市发展部（HUD）联合司法部，一同废除了一项奥巴马时代的政策。该政策允许第三方就建筑原始设计缺陷无限期提起无障碍相关投诉，导致后续楼宇业主在项目竣工多年后仍需承担数百万美元的责任，即便他们并非最初的建筑方。
根据机构内部数据，过去五年间，此前的政策迫使房产主为获得联邦住房管理局（FHA）再融资资格，在无障碍改造上花费超过1.12亿美元——住房与城市发展部表示，这些成本直接压缩了保障性住房供应。
该新规废除了让当前房产主为数十年前原始建筑方犯下的建筑设计偏差承担无限连带责任的条款。根据更新后的执法框架，提起《公平住房法案》设计与施工相关投诉的时效期，从建筑正式获得 occupancy 证书（入住许可）之日起算。
多数美国人未察觉的意外价格飙升正在11月前为特朗普增加竞选筹码
2024年3月12日，德克萨斯州圣马科斯某居民区的独栋住宅。（乔丹·冯德哈/彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社）
个人或维权团体现在必须在严格的一年时限内，直接向住房与城市发展部提起行政投诉。对于向联邦法院提起的私人民事诉讼，诉讼时效限定为建筑竣工后两年。
一旦上述时限届满，房产主将无需为原始建筑设计缺陷承担全楼 retroactive（追溯性）责任，但根据现有《公平住房法案》保护条款，个别租户仍有权随时申请针对自身住房需求的合理改造。
新规指南指出：“（奥巴马时代的监管规定）公然扩大了《公平住房法案》的适用范围，声称在初始建设阶段偏离住房与城市发展部无障碍指南的行为，将使建筑商面临永久严格责任。这一解释严重错误，超出了部门的法定权限，未能增加面向残疾人的无障碍住房供应，还对美国住宅建筑商施加了毫无必要且带有过度偏见的负担。”
根据提交给住房与城市发展部的内部交易数据和行业报告，此前政策造成的经济损失远超联邦支持再融资通常涉及的标准合规费用。例如，某第三方房屋检测公司发现，自2019年以来，近500笔再融资交易中涉及近4900万美元的无障碍整改费用——平均每处房产的缺陷整改费用超过10万美元。
行业内部人士和贷款机构还报告称，奥巴马时代的规定严重阻碍了融资。根据住房与城市发展部的内部数据，某大型保障性多户住宅贷款机构将过去四年间超过10亿美元的住房与城市发展部担保贷款损失归咎于该政策。贷款机构告诉该部门，持续的不确定性导致交易频繁流产，并打消了潜在借款人申请联邦住房管理局融资的念头。
住房专家认为，扩大住宅建设是改善住房负担能力最有效的途径之一。（戴维·保罗·莫里斯/彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社）
纽瑟姆针对住房负担能力紧缩问题祭出重拳，与特朗普政策形成“惊人”趋同
住房与城市发展部部长斯科特·特纳表示：“长期以来，不必要的政府政策推高了建房、购房和租房的成本。今日的行动废除了那些毫无法律依据的法律理论所催生的不必要且高昂的责任。特朗普政府将严格遵循国会制定的法律以及法院的解释。我们将继续废除和替换那些不符合这些合法承诺的指南，同时确保美国人能够获得负担得起的住房。”
斯科特·特纳部长站在罗伯特·C·韦弗联邦大楼旁，这是住房与城市发展部长期以来的总部大楼，特纳正推动将部门迁至弗吉尼亚州北部。（盖蒂图片社；凯文·迪奇/盖蒂图片社）
此次政府撤销政策的核心是一项基本法律原则：联邦机构既不能改写国会通过的法律，也不能无视联邦法官的裁决。1988年国会修订《公平住房法案》时，明确规定了行政投诉的一年时效期限。住房与城市发展部官员认为，2013年的奥巴马时代政策实际上无视了这一国会授权，允许在项目竣工数十年后仍追究房产主责任。
此次调整还使联邦执法与上诉法院的裁决保持一致，包括美国第九巡回上诉法院的一项判决。该案法官裁定，未妥善设计建筑的违法行为在施工结束并颁发正式入住许可时即告终止。
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公平住房与平等机会助理部长克雷格·特雷纳表示：“国会在《公平住房法案》中明确写入了诉讼时效限制。这一限制是法律的一部分，而非狡猾官僚可以无视的建议。我们不会允许奥巴马时代的指南改写《公平住房法案》，让美国建筑商面临无限法律责任，让辛勤工作的美国家庭的住房变得更加难以负担。”
亚历克·舍梅尔是福克斯新闻数字频道的政治记者，原籍北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市，现居住在华盛顿特区-巴尔的摩都会区。
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Obama-era mandate slashed after being blamed for ‘skyrocketing’ housing costs
September 1, 2026 9:00am EDT / Fox News
By Alec Schemmel
FIRST ON FOX: In a bid to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis, the Trump administration has scrapped a controversial Obama-era mandate blamed for driving up property costs and stifling the affordable housing supply.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the Department of Justice, jointly rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints over original building design flaws indefinitely, putting subsequent building owners on the hook for millions of dollars years after a project is completed, even if they were not the original builders.
According to internal agency data, the previous policy forced property owners to spend more than $112 million in accessibility retrofits over the last five years just to qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing—costs that HUD says directly choked off affordable housing supply.
The rule eliminates the ability to hold current property owners indefinitely liable for architectural deviations committed by original builders decades in the past. 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.
ONE UNEXPECTED PRICE SURGE MOST AMERICANS DON’T SEE IS RAISING THE STAKES FOR TRUMP BEFORE NOVEMBER
Single-family homes in a residential neighborhood in San Marcos, Texas, on March 12, 2024.(Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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.
Once those respective windows close, property owners are shielded from retroactive, building-wide liability for original architectural flaws, though individual tenants retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs at any time under existing Fair Housing Act protections.
“[The Obama-era regulation] dramatically expanded the scope of the Fair Housing Act by declaring that deviations from HUD’s accessibility guidelines, at the point of initial construction, gave rise to strict liability against the builder in perpetuity,” the new guidance says. “That interpretation was egregiously wrong. It 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.”
According to internal transaction data and industry reports provided to HUD, the financial toll of the previous policy extended far beyond standard compliance fees typically associated with federally-backed refinancing. For example, a single third-party housing inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required accessibility fixes across almost 500 refinance deals since 2019—averaging over $100,000 in deficiencies per property.
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.
Housing experts argue that expanding homebuilding is one of the most effective ways to improve affordability.(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
NEWSOM TARGETS MAJOR AFFORDABILITY SQUEEZE IN ‘STRIKING’ CONVERGENCE WITH TRUMP
“For too long, unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home. Today’s action rescinds unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “The Trump Administration is following the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts. We will continue to repeal and replace guidance that does not honor these lawful commitments while ensuring Americans can access affordable housing.”
Secretary Scott Turner seen next to the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, the longtime headquarters building for HUD before Turner began transitioning it to Northern Virginia.(Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
At the heart of the administration’s rollback is a fundamental legal principle that federal agencies cannot rewrite laws passed by lawmakers, nor can they ignore rulings by federal judges. When Congress updated the Fair Housing Act in 1988, lawmakers built in a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints. HUD officials argue the 2013 Obama-era policy effectively ignored that congressional mandate by allowing property owners to be targeted decades after a project was completed.
The shift also aligns federal enforcement with appellate court rulings, including a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judges in that case ruled that the illegal act of failing to properly design a building ends when construction wraps up and an official certificate of occupancy is issued.
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“Congress wrote a clear statute of limitations into the Fair Housing Act. That limitation is part of the law, not a suggestion for sly bureaucrats to disregard,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “We will not allow Obama-era guidance to rewrite the Fair Housing Act, expose American builders to indefinite legal liability, and make housing less affordable for hardworking American families.”
Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.
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