How Trump’s Budget Cuts Threaten the Working Class

What happens when programs that expand small businesses and first-time homeownership are stripped away? For the working class, the change could mean fewer local employers and harder paths to stable housing.

The plan would eliminate the Minority Business Development Agency, a federal program that has helped working-class Americans of color start or expand their businesses and diversify fields, including bringing more women into construction trades. These populations were targeted for this special program because they’re disproportionately likely to struggle to get loans elsewhere. Official statements said the mission is itself divisive and discriminatory.

Together, these programs allow working class Americans to build and create businesses in communities often overlooked by traditional financing. Without government investment, they could disappear. The loss of that support may shrink entrepreneurship in neighborhoods that have only recently begun to see small-business growth.

A number of programs that aim to expand homeownership, both to people and communities, are on the chopping block. The budget would eliminate Community Development Financial Institutions, which bring financial institutions to communities that traditional banks ignore. They provide a range of financial services, including mortgages to low-income families buying their first homes.

Local officials and advocates warn the working class will feel the impact quickly. Decisions in the coming months will determine whether communities absorb the cuts or watch opportunities vanish.

The Trump budget would also cut a program that has helped build more than 1.3 million affordable homes since 1992. And it would continue calling for a new Department of Housing and Urban Development policy to stop issuing rental assistance vouchers to new families. Removing these pillars could ripple through credit markets and shrink the pool of viable borrowers, leaving lower-income neighborhoods with fewer lenders and fewer paths to homeownership.

If enacted, the package of cuts could leave fewer businesses, fewer homeowners, and narrower chances for growth in places that have relied on federal aid. The working class stands at the center of that shift, facing immediate pressures and long-term uncertainty.