Newsom targets major affordability squeeze in ‘striking’ convergence with Trump

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.

THE KEY STRATEGY RED STATES ARE USING TO LOWER HOUSING COSTS REVEALED "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.