Citi to invest $60B in housing affordability, as POTUS spotlights crisis in State of the Union address

The term “housing affordability” is becoming a household phrase as Americans face increasingly high barriers to home ownership and soaring rents.

It featured heavily in President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, in which he called on Congress to make permanent an executive order he signed banning what he described as “Wall Street firms” from buying single-family homes. He said that practice is making it difficult for average Americans to achieve the American dream of homeownership, including for a guest at the address, Rachel Wiggins, whom Trump said bid on 20 different homes and lost all to investment firms able to pay cash.

And Trump also addressed high interest rates, which he promoted as being “the lowest in four years.”

Meanwhile, Citi is launching its own housing affordability push, with a $60 billion investment over five years to increase and preserve housing supply, driving housing costs down. The company is also committing $50 million to nonprofits across the nation to address housing challenges in communities.

Citi’s Blueprint for Housing Opportunity initiative will use its investment to create or preserve 250,000 units across the nation. The $60 billion will be used to acquire, construct, rehabilitate and/or finance affordable housing, with the goal of ensuring essential workers are able to access homes they can afford.

This is an especially valuable prospect in Florida, where workers often struggle to afford housing in the communities where they work. The state, in 2023 under the leadership of then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, passed her marquee “Live Local Act” aimed at providing more affordable housing throughout the state, but studies show that affordability is still out of reach for some, including firefighters, police officers and paramedics.

A report in mid-2024 from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found Florida residents needed to earn three times the then-minimum wage of $12 an hour to afford a two-bedroom home near their jobs. Someone earning minimum wage would need to work 98 hours a week to afford even just a one-bedroom home, while a two-bedroom home would require 117 hours a week of work, amounting to nearly 17 hours a day every single day of the week.

Citi’s new program would help address that issue by applying its financial capital to help developers and governments build and preserve housing units at affordable rates.

“Housing gets built when there’s certainty of capital, clarity of execution and partners who stay the course,” said Rafael E. Cestero, CEO of the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC).

“That’s where market-based solutions led by institutions like Citi make a difference. As a mission-driven organization focused on leveraging capital to strengthen communities, CPC understands that with the right financial partners, developers not only can move quickly from acquisition to completion but also keep affordability front and center.”

The $60 billion in capital that Citi is pledging will support single-family homes, developments with supportive services and lower-cost rental options in expensive markets.

In addition to its overall investment, Citi is also donating $1 million to the Center for Affordable Housing Lending, a nonprofit policy research partner of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, which works to develop policy on affordable housing and community development solutions.

“Housing affordability is one of the defining economic challenges of our time, and increasing supply is essential to addressing it,” Citi CEO Jane Fraser said. “By expanding the amount of financing we provide for affordable housing, we open possibilities for prosperity, helping more Americans secure housing they can truly afford. When people spend less on housing, they have more to invest in their families and futures.”

The company has been a top affordable housing lender in the U.S. for 15 years, but officials recognize the need for continued efforts. Already, the company has used its Citi Community Capital fund to finance more than $32 billion in affordable multifamily housing over the past five years, including $7.6 billion last year used to create and preserve more than 35,000 housing units across at least 30 states.

The company also plans to advance public policy and advocacy efforts to further enhance supply, including supporting the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program.

“The causes for the shortage of quality, affordable housing are complicated but ultimately come down to the imbalance of supply and demand. Increasing supply is where our financial capabilities can make the greatest impact and, through this commitment, we are significantly increasing the capital we are putting to work,” said Edward Skyler, Head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs and Chair of the Citi Foundation.

“We also recognize that housing is a critical building block for financial progress. That’s why we’re also providing philanthropic support to help people access the financial tools, services and opportunities they need for economic and housing security.”

Citi praised Trump for expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit through his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but said there are still opportunities to make those funds go further for recipients, including making the funds more liquid for investors to encourage greater investment in affordable housing projects.