On June 4, 2026, Susan Collins voted against two amendments to the second reconciliation bill that would have funded the HOME Investment Partnerships program, the main federal grant for building and repairing affordable homes, including one that redirects $62.1 billion from funds intended for immigration enforcement towards the Housing Department's HOME Investment Partnerships Program. The next day she voted for the bill without the housing money. Maine has far fewer affordable rental homes than it has renter households with the lowest incomes.
Collins voted to confirm HUD Secretary Scott Turner, whose department has proposed letting housing agencies cut off rental aid after two years, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department raised duties on Canadian lumber, which home builders say raised the cost of a new home.
Susan Collins's Votes and Confirmations on Rent, Rental Aid and Building Costs
- Collins Voted Against Moving $62.1 Billion From Immigration Enforcement to Affordable Housing in June 2026. On June 4, 2026, Susan Collins voted no on a motion to allow the Reed-Bennet amendment to the second reconciliation bill, which redirects $62.1 billion from funds intended for immigration enforcement towards the Housing Department's HOME Investment Partnerships Program. It failed 46 to 53. The same day she voted no on Senator Maggie Hassan's amendment funding HOME to build 7 million homes, which failed 46 to 52. On June 5, 2026, Collins voted for the bill, which passed 52 to 47 with the enforcement money and without the housing money. The U.S. has a shortage of 7.2 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with the lowest incomes, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Scott Turner, Whose HUD Proposed Time Limits on Rental Aid and Cut Fair Housing Enforcement. On February 5, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Scott Turner as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and he was confirmed 55 to 44. She also voted to confirm Deputy Secretary Andrew Hughes on June 10, 2025. Turner's HUD has proposed a rule letting housing agencies establish term limits of no less than two years for non-elderly, non-disabled families and adopt work requirements of up to 40 hours per week; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates as many as 3.7 million people, more than half of them children, would be at risk of losing aid if agencies adopt it. The rule is not final. HUD also proposed ending aid to families with mixed immigration status, acknowledging that this rulemaking would adversely affect some tenants and applicants. In February 2025 HUD issued a Feb. 27 order that aimed to cancel a total of 78 grants to fair housing groups, which a judge partly reversed; such private fair housing nonprofits across the country handled over 75% of all housing discrimination complaints. HUD's workforce fell by about 29 percent in 2025, going down to roughly 6,300 workers, and federal auditors found the cuts made it harder for these groups to get information from HUD.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Howard Lutnick, Whose Commerce Department Raised Lumber Prices for Home Builders. On February 18, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce, and he was confirmed 51 to 45. In 2025 his department raised duties on Canadian softwood lumber and added a new lumber tariff, jumping the overall price of Canadian lumber by 45%, according to the National Association of Home Builders, which says Canada accounts for roughly 85% of all U.S. softwood lumber imports. In an April 2025 survey, builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $10,900 per home.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Homeland Security Secretaries Whose Enforcement Has Slowed Home Building. Susan Collins voted to confirm Kristi Noem (January 25, 2025) and Markwayne Mullin (March 23, 2026) as Secretary of Homeland Security. Home builders say immigration enforcement discouraged legally authorized workers from reporting to jobsites, delaying home construction and raising costs, and a Texas builder told Marketplace that one phase of homes will likely take 18 months instead of 12.
What Susan Collins's Votes and HUD's Plans Mean for Renters in Maine
- Rental aid at risk. Up to 11,700 Mainers, 5,800 of them children, could lose rental aid if their housing agency or landlord adopts HUD's proposed time-limit rule, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates.
- Shortage. Maine has 40,537 renter households with the lowest incomes and 21,042 affordable and available homes for them, a shortage of 19,495, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2024 data.
- Rent. A full-time worker in Maine needs to earn $32.32 an hour to afford a two-bedroom home at fair market rent, the coalition's 2026 Out of Reach report finds.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Housing costs
What is Susan Collins's record on housing costs under Trump?
Susan Collins voted on June 4, 2026 against two amendments that would have funded the HOME program to build and repair affordable homes, one of them by moving $62.1 billion from immigration enforcement, and then voted for the reconciliation bill without that money. She voted to confirm HUD Secretary Scott Turner, whose department has proposed time limits on rental aid, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose lumber duties raised building costs.
Is HUD putting time limits and work requirements on rental assistance?
HUD under Scott Turner, whom Susan Collins voted to confirm in February 2025, has proposed but not finalized a rule allowing two-year time limits and work requirements of up to 40 hours a week. If housing agencies adopt it, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that up to 11,700 people in Maine could lose rental aid, about half of them children.
Did tariffs raise the cost of building homes?
Home builders say they did: the Commerce Department under Howard Lutnick, whom Susan Collins voted to confirm, raised lumber duties in 2025, and builders put the typical tariff cost at $10,900 per home in an April 2025 survey.
Last updated: 2026-10-25