This week’s Hits and Misses column focuses on the intersection of real estate and politics, with stops in Washington, Ottawa, Sacramento, and Animal Crossing.
Hit: Here Comes the DOGE Wrecking Ball. The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the direction of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is planning to take aim at the surplus number of empty federal office properties. The DOGE page on X declared: “Federal government agencies are using, on average, just 12% of the space in their DC headquarters. The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 people, averaged 456 workers each day (6% occupancy). Why are American taxpayer dollars being spent to maintain empty buildings?” Why, indeed. Hopefully, that problem will be rectified in the not-too-distant future.
Hit: Governor Cardone? High-profile real estate investor Grant Cardone is publicly considering the possibility of running for governor of California in 2026. Cardone, who campaigned for Donald Trump and repeatedly criticized the Biden-Harris administration housing policies this year, used his X page to declare: “Grant Cardone is considering moving back to the state of California to run for governor to save the state of California from itself.” He also stated, “America is going to lose one of our greatest resources if we allow the state to run its current course.” If Cardone pursues this race, it will mark the first time in 20 years that California voters support a Republican for governor. Hey, stranger things have happened. After all, the last Republican governor in the state was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Hit: From Newmark to Commerce. Congratulations goes out to Howard W. Lutnick, executive chairman of the commercial real estate firm Newmark Group Inc., who was nominated by President-elect Trump to become the next Secretary of Commerce. Lutnick, who also is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group, was reportedly under consideration for the Treasury Secretary position, and he stated he would step away from his private sector positions to serve the country if he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate early next year. “I look forward to this new chapter in my life, working for President Trump to promote economic growth, drive innovation, and strengthen our nation’s financial security,” he said in a statement.
Miss: Ain’t Gonna Happen. Earlier this week, the 19-member Congressional Real Estate Caucus sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson urging her agency to halt its title insurance waiver pilot until public input is recorded and it is fully vetted. The lawmakers warned the pilot program would not achieve Thompson’s goals to “responsibly reduce closing costs for homeowners in a safe and sound manner.” While the lawmakers were right to make this push, they are wasting their time – with less than two months left for the Biden-Harris administration, it is highly unlikely that Thompson will switch gears and move away from the unsuccessful housing policies of today’s Executive Branch. Instead, it might make more sense for the lawmakers to begin reaching out to the Trump-Vance team to start a dialogue for any meaningful reform of FHFA policies.
Miss: Who’s at Fault? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used today’s observance of Canada’s National Housing Day to acknowledge a problem without accepting any responsibility for the dilemma. “Canada’s housing market just hasn’t been working – ask anyone you know, and they’ll say it hasn’t worked for decades,” said Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015. Trudeau added that his “federal government is fixing it, starting by making it easier to build homes faster.” Uh, why wasn’t this done in the nine years that he was leading the country? But, hey, it takes a unique type of leader who opens his country to hundreds of thousands of immigrants without bothering to ensure they’ll have a proper place to live – and then imports a few thousand more immigrants to build those homes when Canadians cannot be found to fill the construction jobs.
Hit: An Animated Choice. As of this writing, President-elect Trump has yet to name his choice for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. If you follow the chat on X, there are plenty of bizarre choices being raised for the role, including John Cena and Al Sharpton. But perhaps the most unusual idea involves Tom Nook, who was put forth by Hard Drive Magazine as the nation’s housing chief. And while the likelihood of this Animal Crossing character running HUD is nil, in fairness one has to admit the photograph used to promote his candidacy is very amusing:
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo: A scene from “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (1956) Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institute
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