Trump has already hurt lower income homeowners

Guardian - One of the first things Trump did on becoming US president was to make a huge number of middle-income families considerably worse off. One of Barack Obama’s final decisions before leaving the White House was to cut Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance premiums by 0.25%, saving the average household about $500 (£400) a year if they have a mortgage. The effect was immediate: total mortgage applications fell 3.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In addition, there was a 13% drop in FHA applications – a direct result of the Trump administration reversing Obama’s cut in FHA premiums just hours after the inauguration. This affects mainly lower-income families making their first steps from renting to home ownership: $500 may seem like a small amount to some, but in many cases, it is the difference between meeting a mortgage payment and not.