By Rebecca Picciotto, Will Parker and Nicole Friedman

Home builders are scrambling to offer new policy proposals to the White House, looking for help to unload the biggest glut of housing inventory in 15 years.

The policy list includes streamlining the federal permitting process and using federal grants to incentivize local governments to enact zoning overhauls, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Home builders have also discussed a federally backed "rent-to-own" program, people familiar with the matter said. These programs typically require single-family home renters to pay above-market rent, setting aside the extra money for a down payment to eventually purchase the home.

"Any reporting about potential action is pure speculation," a White House official said of the builders' housing proposals.

But the new proposals represent an attempt by the industry to find common ground with Trump officials, who have publicly accused builders of sitting on vacant land that could be used to build homes. Builders say that much of that land needs additional infrastructure to be suitable for housing development.

Big builders such as Lennar and Taylor Morrison have met in recent months with Housing Finance chief Bill Pulte, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and others in the administration about a variety of housing proposals.

"We are amongst the many builders working with the administration and coming up with ideas that can continue to enhance affordability," said Taylor Morrison Chief Executive Sheryl Palmer.

The administration has also been critical of Wall Street landlords, who they say shouldn't be competing with traditional buyers for single-family homes.

In particular, the rent-to-own program could help soften the blow of President Trump's recent executive order looking to restrict private investors from buying single-family homes.

Trump already exempted build-to-rent developers from his proposal. But traditional builders and single-family rental landlords are still grappling with how new restrictions, which need to be codified by Congress, could kneecap their businesses.

Fewer buyers are able to afford new construction homes at today's prices and interest rates, leaving builders with too many unsold homes on their books. As a result, builders have relied on private investors to help unload their excess supply.

"The biggest problem for the industry is that they've got the highest amount of unsold inventory since 2010 or 2011," said Rick Palacios Jr., director of research at John Burns Research & Consulting.

Bloomberg previously reported on the rent-to-own proposal.

Builders have also suggested expanding access to government-insured mortgages with low down payments through the Federal Housing Administration and strengthening the federal government's rural housing programs, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The rent-to-own proposal is among the more complicated of their policy ideas. How landlords would be held to their promise to eventually sell homes to their renters is unclear. It is also unclear what role the federal government would play in such a rent-to-own plan or how it would help increase homeownership.

Builders would be happy to get rid of their excess inventory, but after those homes are sold, they might struggle to quickly ramp up construction from current levels, said Ivy Zelman, executive vice president of housing-research firm Zelman.

"It's hard to say what capacity they can add before they start seeing not only labor challenges but really inflation in building materials," she said.

An estimated 1.1 million households used rent-to-own agreements in 2021, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. New rent-to-own companies sprang up in the years after the foreclosure crisis.

These programs can help renters who can afford a monthly mortgage but don't have the savings for a down payment, or who need to improve their credit before they can qualify for a mortgage.

But there can be problems. Renters can be charged excessive fees or evicted, according to a 2025 Pew Charitable Trusts report. Only a handful of states have laws that regulate these agreements.

"The question is what the renters' financial experience would be if they don't either choose [to buy] or don't qualify for a mortgage" at the end of the rentership period, said Michael Stegman, a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute and a former adviser to Home Partners of America, a rent-to-own company that was acquired by Blackstone in 2021.

Write to Rebecca Picciotto at Rebecca.Picciotto@wsj.com, Will Parker at will.parker@wsj.com and Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2026 17:41 ET (22:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.