Housing affordability is a serious problem—apparently even for federal housing officers.
The Washington Put up stories that Benjamin Hobbs, the Division of Housing and City Growth’s assistant secretary for public and Indian housing, has listed a money fund for a house down cost on his on-line wedding ceremony registry on the marriage planning platform Zola.
The registry is now password-protected.
Based on the Canton Repository, Hobbs, 38, is ready to wed his fiancée, Madison Greif, on June 20, 2026.
“Benjamin Hobbs’ public wedding ceremony registry asking for financial items does increase some alarm bells. Public officers should be particularly cautious to keep away from even the looks of somebody attempting to affect them or curry favor,” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, interim vp of coverage and authorities affairs on the Mission On Authorities Oversight, tells Realtor.com®. “This type of vigilance is important to making sure the integrity of presidency coverage and decision-making and to preserving public belief.”
However Robbie Myers, HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for strategic communications, instructed the Put up that Hobbs “is in compliance with all related legal guidelines and won’t settle for any improper items.”
Myers continued: “Due to the biggest tax minimize for working households in American historical past, Mr. Hobbs now has confidence within the housing market, and if household and pals want to assist his pursuit of the American Dream, they’re welcome to take action as ethics has authorised such items for a once-in-a-lifetime joyous event.”
Nevertheless, ethics specialists instructed the Put up that folks akin to lobbyists or politicians may probably donate to Hobbs’ housing fund to attempt to curry favor with him.
Realtor.com reached out to Hobbs and Myers for remark and didn’t hear again.
Down cost registries are gaining popularity
It seems that Hobbs’ request will not be that uncommon—particularly in a local weather the place the median itemizing worth of a house is a steep $403,450 and mortgage rates of interest are presently 6.11%.
Hobbs lives in Washington, DC, the place the median residence worth reached $550,000 in February, standing roughly $150,000 above the nationwide median.
“To comfortably afford a house at this worth level, assuming present mortgage charges and a ten% down cost, a family would ideally want a minimal revenue of $120,000,” says Hannah Jones, senior financial analysis analyst at Realtor.com.
“Nevertheless, with the native median revenue presently hovering simply above $100,000, the trail to homeownership stays a steep climb, notably within the metro’s most sought-after neighborhoods.”
Jones says this affordability hole is forcing potential consumers to get artistic.
Based on the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors® 2025 Profile of House Patrons and Sellers report, 22% of first-time consumers acquired assistance on down cost funds from kinfolk or pals by way of a present or mortgage.
And 48% of newlywed owners—consumers married throughout the previous two years—requested for cash towards their down funds as a substitute of typical wedding ceremony items, in response to a 2025 LendingTree survey.
A 2023 Realtor.com survey discovered that 85% of newlyweds who’d created a marriage registry within the earlier 24 months would have most well-liked to have acquired cash towards a down cost on a house relatively than a bodily present. Additionally, 80% mentioned that in the event that they have been creating a present registry at this time, they would come with an possibility for folks to present them cash towards homebuying bills.
In that very same survey, 30% of wedding ceremony attendees mentioned they have been open to giving monetary items in lieu of conventional presents.
Newlywed Eliza Palas requested for visitors to contribute to a house down cost on her wedding ceremony registry final yr.
“A future residence looks like a considerate, lasting funding that family and friends might be a part of—regardless of the dimensions of their contribution,” Palas instructed Realtor.com.
Sammi Kobrin, model director at Zola, instructed the Put up it isn’t taboo to ask for money on a registry, particularly amongst youthful {couples}.
“This concept of getting your visitors fund this subsequent step of your life is changing into far more sensible,” she mentioned.
Trump administration tackles inexpensive housing
Hobbs is amongst these within the Trump administration pledging to make housing extra inexpensive.
On March 13, President Donald Trump signed an government order aimed toward lowering laws that decelerate new-home building and push the prices of constructing larger as a part of a broader effort to deal with the nation’s housing affordability disaster.
The order signed on Friday got here a day after the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan twenty first Century ROAD to Housing Act, which seeks to develop housing provide and scale back regulatory boundaries to building.
The invoice has dozens of housing reforms aimed toward making it simpler to construct properties and procure financing to purchase them. It additionally places forth a ban on main institutional buyers shopping for single-family properties.
A separate government order on Friday targeted on increasing entry to mortgage credit score by easing regulatory burdens on lenders, notably smaller group banks, to make residence loans simpler for certified consumers.
