Trump’s First Executive Orders Target Office Mandates, Housing Affordability, Private Prisons
Within hours of becoming the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump signed a swath — he promised roughly 100 — of far-reaching executive orders, many of which will impact the commercial real estate sector.
The eight executive orders Trump signed in front of jubilant fans at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and dozens more he signed later in the Oval Office include new positions on remote work policies, housing affordability and climate regulations.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said after being sworn in.
In one of his first official acts as president, Trump, sitting at a desk on the arena stage, signed an executive order calling all federal workers back to the office full time as soon as possible.
The two-paragraph order directs the heads of all agencies that fall under the executive branch to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis.”
Despite the unequivocal demand, Trump is likely to face headwinds on return-to-office policies from federal employee unions that have fought for contracts as recently as last month that lock in some hybrid or remote work for the next five years.
Trump also instituted a hiring freeze for civilian federal jobs under executive branch purview while carving out exemptions for the military, immigration enforcement, public safety and other services.
The order gives the director of the Office of Management and Budget 90 days to come up with a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
Trump also addressed inflation and affordability in an expansive executive order that directed the “heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker.”
The executive order blames inflation on high energy costs and unnecessary regulation, claiming that Biden-era rules added $50K in costs to the average American household.
The order specifically calls on agencies to find ways to address housing affordability and expand housing supply while paring back climate-related policies it blames for high costs. The order also targets healthcare costs and appliance prices.
Trump also once again pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement. The president had left the treaty meant to slow the pace of climate change during his first term, only for his successor, Joe Biden, to put the country back into the agreement as one of his first executive orders in 2021.
Trump's order Monday was one of the more formal and fully formed orders of the ones signed to the roaring applause of his supporters. It says the agreement and others like it “steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people.”
The real estate sector, responsible for roughly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, is growing its carbon footprint each year, a Bisnow analysis found. The executive order doesn't undo state and municipal policies surrounding sustainability and emissions, which have a large impact on how and what developers can build and have launched waves of retrofits around the country.
The handful of orders signed at the arena were just the start of a promised wave of directives that are meant to undo what Trump described Monday as “nearly 80 destructive, radical executive actions of the previous administration.”
After leaving the Capital One Arena, Trump returned to the Oval Office where he signed more executive orders covering a wide gamut of issues, including pardoning supporters who took part in the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, withdrawing from the World Health Organization and signing an order to help keep TikTok online.
Among the Biden-era executive orders Trump reversed was a directive signed in January 2021 to eliminate the use of private prisons. The order could help Trump enforce some of his immigration goals.
In December, private prison REIT Geo Group announced it was putting $70M toward increasing capacity at its facilities to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The company is already ICE’s largest provider, with 21,000 beds across 16 processing centers.
In all, Trump issued 10 executive orders regarding immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border, suspending refugee resettlement for four months and resuming border wall construction. He also pushed for an end to birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment.
Mass deportations are widely expected to start as soon as this week.
The share of immigrant workers in the construction industry has risen sharply in recent years, reaching a record high in 2024, and an Axios report found that the sector would be hit harder than any other by an immigration crackdown.
Although Trump had said in the lead-up to his inauguration that he would implement tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports on Day 1, he didn't sign any orders to that effect, instead issuing a memorandum to various departments instructing them to investigate “America First” trade policies.
During a freewheeling question-and-answer session while signing the executive orders, Trump said he still intends to enact 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which he said were allowing unauthorized immigrants and fentanyl into the country, according to The New York Times.
He also said he was considering a universal tariff on all countries.
Trump also signed various orders killing diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs.
“We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” he said in his inauguration speech.
DEI advocates in CRE told Bisnow earlier this year they intend to continue pushing for a more inclusive workforce despite growing political backlash, even as CRE companies rejiggered their programs to soften language and protect themselves legally.
