Now that the 2016 election results are in and Donald Trump has been confirmed the president-elect for the 45th American presidency, experts and watchdogs are trying to figure out what everything means when a controversial government outsider takes the top Federal job in the United States.
It’s too soon to tell what all the results of a Trump Presidency will mean for municipal governments and the management of cities, but a number of seasoned experts and journalists have published their thinking.
What follows are EfficientGov’s Top 7 stories from the official first week of a Trump-led era.
#1 Infrastructure Spending, Housing & Energy Efficiency
Anthony Flint, a fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, publishes How to Start Thinking About What a Trump Presidency Means for Cities on CityLab.
Flint acknowledges that there are certainly more questions than answers, and that Trump never got down to cities (“it’s not like he ever threw around terms such as Community Development Block Grants,”) but that it’s possible as president, his administration might help cities function better. Although, the administration’s housing assistance policies and support of climate change projects in play are a little murky.
Flint addresses Trump’s $10 trillion, 10-year infrastructure plan, that he might scale back the reach of the U.S. Office of Housing & Urban Development and how he might pull the country out of the Paris COP 21 climate change agreement.
#2 The Economy
TheStreet publishes With Donald Trump as President, Here’s What Will Happen to the U.S. Economy by Emily Stewart.
In this revisit of an original post in 2015, TheStreet asks economic experts about Trump’s expensive immigration plan and provides a summary of his position on the economy over the past year. It also links to relevant clues as to what will happen to the economy, such as the president-elect’s impending battle with the Federal Reserve.
#3 Housing Rentals
KC Sanjay of Axiometrics publishes How The Trump Presidency Could Impact The Apartment Market in Forbes.
According to the economic experts, imminent stricter immigration laws will displace populations in the short-term and reduce national consumption. In the apartment market, this situation could reduce occupancy numbers.
But if Trump’s projections that his policies will increase GDP upwards of four percent, more jobs would be created. More jobs tends to benefit the apartment market. Axiometrics expects an annual average occupancy of 95 percent and rent growth exceeding three percent from 2017-2020.
#4 Education & Student Loan Repayment
Politico publishes What Donald Trump’s Stunning Win Means for Education by Michael Stratford et al.
Based on scant references and few details from Trump’s campaign, education insiders are not sure what promises to either scale back or decimate the Education Department actually means.
But, he’s also proposed a more lenient student loan forgiveness program than the current one.
#5 Healthcare IT
Paddy Padmanabhan, CEO of Damo Consulting, publishes the opinion piece What a Trump Presidency Could Mean for Healthcare IT on CIO.
While repealing Obamacare was practically a campaign platform, there is evidence that a Trump-led administration will not kill investments in healthcare IT made following the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.
Rather, Trump may leverage the national electronic health record system already put in place by billions in tax incentives.
#6 Law Enforcement
Police1.com posts 5 Things American Police can Expect from President Donald Trump by Editor-at-Large Doug Wyllie.
In his column, Wyllie shares his perspective on the kinds of support and funding that can be expected--based on Trump’s campaign promises. He also talks about the unknowns that retaliation from military intervention might result in and what is expected to happen to Constitutional Law.
#7 Fire & EMS Services
FireRescue1.com posts What a President Trump Means for Fire, EMS by EMS1 Editor-in-Chief Greg Friese.
From an Affordable Care Act repeal and regulatory rollbacks that have an indirect impact on safety to competing for labor and curtailing terrorism, Friese adds color and imagery to what first responders may experience in the four years ahead.
