Restoring Law & Order In Crime-Ridden Cities May Be Key To Resolving Affordability Crisis

President Trump ordered “emergency price relief” for Americans on housing costs in an executive order earlier this year to address the housing affordability crisis. 

“Many Americans are unable to purchase homes due to historically high prices, in part due to regulatory requirements that alone account for 25 percent of the cost of constructing a new home, according to recent analysis,” an executive action signed by President Trump in January read. 

But what if the administration had another option?

One far quicker than reducing regulatory requirements to expand housing stock, which could take months if not years… What if the fastest solution wasn’t simply deporting millions of criminal illegal aliens, but restoring law and order in major cities run by far-left politicians who push disastrous woke policies that only backfired and resulted in continued violent crime waves over the last decade?   

“The fastest way to lower average housing prices in American cities is to enforce the law/reduce criminal activity.  Huge chunks of high-density housing are trapped in Bad Neighborhoods, no-go zones depressed well below nearby prices.  Nobody with options even considers them,” Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey wrote on X. 

The fastest way to lower average housing prices in American cities is enforcing the law/reducing criminal activity. Huge chunks of high-density housing are trapped in Bad Neighborhoods, no-go zones depressed well below nearby prices. Nobody with options even considers them.

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) August 18, 2025

Take Baltimore City, Maryland, as a prime example: the metro area just north of Washington, D.C., has more than 14,000 vacant homes, many of them located in neighborhoods plagued by violent crime and controlled by far-left radicals of the Democratic Party for over 50 years.

All the vacant run down property in Rep Cummings district highlighted below. Baltimore is a shithole. Fact. pic.twitter.com/abRBJeotqj

— Mike (@ChitownMike312) July 27, 2019

In 2010 there were 16,800 vacant row houses in Baltimore City. As of 2018 there are 16,500 vacant homes in Baltimore City. Millions of dollars sent to Baltimore to cure this problem.

Where’s the money? @RepCummings @mayorbcyoung @MayorSRB @MayorPugh50 https://t.co/UGGmFT5S4r pic.twitter.com/n27SXSniXK

— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) September 20, 2019

Baltimore is selling off dilapidated buildings for $1.

Yeah, ONE DOLLAR.

There were about 15,000 abandoned homes in the city as of 2022, and this initiative is to encourage investors to come in, deploy capital, and transform the market.

What do you think of this? pic.twitter.com/kqZCpIyjkt

— Tyler | Kenji Capital (@KenjiCapital) April 15, 2024

These areas resemble war zones, left in ruins by toxic progressive policies and decades of de-industrialization

Let’s assume Palmer is correct. If the crime-ridden neighborhoods of Baltimore, the same ones made infamous by HBO’s The Wire, could finally see law and order restored, families and communities would naturally begin to rebuild. Until then, decades of failed Democratic policies have allowed inner cities to rot into war zones, disenfranchising working-class residents most of all. Restoring law and order in America’s metro areas will be key to unlocking vacant homes and expanding the housing stock.