{"text":[[{"start":10.68,"text":"Billionaire real estate mogul Stephen Ross has said Donald Trump’s push to tackle housing affordability in the US is “not enough”, despite increasing efforts by the administration to address the problem."}],[{"start":24.11,"text":"Ross, who has made big donations to Republicans in the past, said in an interview with the FT that the issue of housing affordability is “going to be the biggest issue going forward”. He laid the blame on construction costs."}],[{"start":38.95,"text":"“[The government is] going to have to look and see, you know, how do you reduce costs?” said Ross, founder and non-executive chair of developer Related Companies, who is known for spearheading the $25bn Hudson Yards development in New York and is now betting on a multibillion-dollar project in Florida’s West Palm Beach."}],[{"start":61.99,"text":"The Trump administration has tried to tackle the severe shortage of housing at affordable prices ahead of November’s midterm elections."}],[{"start":72.67,"text":"The US president’s efforts include a move to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes and a $200bn mortgage bond-buying initiative with the goal of reducing financing costs for potential homeowners. "}],[{"start":88.6,"text":"Ross’s new development in Florida includes luxury condominiums, offices, a university and some mixed-income housing. It aims to transform West Palm Beach into a luxury hotspot."}],[{"start":103.75,"text":"He said Trump’s moves to address housing affordability have been inadequate and pointed to the issue of unionised construction labour, which he claimed pushes up new housing costs because it is “so much more expensive” than non-union workers."}],[{"start":120.44,"text":"Ross said the requirements in some states that subsidies for housing construction must go to projects that match union wages or use union labour have pushed up homebuilding costs. "}],[{"start":133.03,"text":"He said that “different politicians have a hard time” dealing with the “union issue”, but that this is the key to reducing housing costs, alongside subsidies for home construction. "}],[{"start":147.11,"text":"“We’ve always solved [the housing crisis] with subsidies,” he said. "}],[{"start":152.36,"text":"Many analysts question the relevance of union labour to overall housing costs. Only around 11 per cent of the private-sector construction workforce in the US belongs to a union, according to 2025 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "}],[{"start":170.85000000000002,"text":"The idea that unionised labour is a big contributing factor to the affordable housing crisis “is not an uncommon one but it is not especially well thought out”, according to Brad Case, chief residential economist of Homes.com. "}],[{"start":186.50000000000003,"text":"Case pointed out that much more of the construction workforce was unionised in the 1970s, when homebuilding was booming. But the number of homes being built relative to the population has gone down since, even with a reduced proportion of workers in unions."}],[{"start":206.30000000000004,"text":"Ross’s comments come at a time when affordability concerns are heightened due to the strikes the administration launched with Israel against Iran — which has pushed up energy prices. "}],[{"start":218.63000000000005,"text":"“Everyone would like to see the war over,” the real estate magnate said during the interview, which took place before a tentative ceasefire was agreed this week."}],[{"start":239.06000000000006,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776057242_2325.mp3"}