Housing affordability is a major challenge—apparently even for state housing officials.
The Washington Post reports that Benjamin Hobbsassistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public and Indian housing unit, has listed a down payment fund on her online marriage registry on wedding planning platform Zola.
Registration is now password protected.
According to the Canton Repository, Hobbs, 38, will marry his fiancée, Madison GreifJune 20, 2026.
“Benjamin Hobbs’ civil marriage registry asking for cash gifts is a whistle-blower. Government officials must be especially careful to avoid even the appearance of someone trying to influence or favor them,” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudetteinterim vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, tells Realtor.com®. “This type of monitoring is essential to ensure the integrity of government policy and decision-making and to maintain public trust.”
But Robbie MyersHUD’s deputy secretary for strategic communications, told the Post that Hobbs “complies with all relevant laws and will not accept any improper gifts.”
Myers continued: “Thanks to the largest tax cut for working families in American history, Mr. Hobbs is now dependent on the housing market, and if family and friends wish to help in his pursuit of the American Dream, they are welcome to do so as ethics have mandated such gifts for a once-in-a-lifetime joyous occasion.”
However, ethics experts told the Post that people like representatives or politicians could donate to Hobbs’ housing fund to try to do him a favor.
Realtor.com reached out to Hobbs and Myers for comment and did not hear back.
The down payment register is becoming more and more popular
It turns out that Hobbs’ request is not unusual—especially in a climate where the home’s listing price is a steep $403,450 and the mortgage interest rate is currently 6.11%.
Hobbs lives in Washington, DC, where the median home price reached $550,000 in February, standing nearly $150,000 above the national median.
“To comfortably afford a home at this price point, taking into account current housing prices and a 10% down payment, a family would need as little as $120,000,” it said. Hannah Jonessenior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
“However, with the median income currently at just over $100,000, the road to homeownership remains steep, especially in the most sought-after metro areas.”
Jones says this affordability gap forces potential buyers to get creative.
According to the National Association of Realtors® 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report, 22% of first-time buyers received down payment assistance from relatives or friends through a gift or loan.
And 48% of newlywed homeowners—buyers who married within the last two years—asked for a down payment instead of traditional wedding gifts, according to LendingTree’s 2025 survey.
A 2023 Realtor.com survey found that 85% of newlyweds who registered their marriage in the past 24 months would rather receive a down payment than a physical gift. Also, 80% said if they created a gift registry today, they would include an option for people to donate money toward the cost of buying a home.
In that survey, 30% of wedding attendees said they were open to giving financial gifts instead of traditional gifts.
Newlyweds Eliza Palas he asked the guests to contribute to the payment of the house registered for his marriage last year.
“The home of the future feels like a thoughtful, sustainable investment that friends and family can be a part of—no matter how much their contribution,” Palas told Realtor.com.
Sammi Kobrinthe product director at Zola, told the newspaper that it is not legal to ask for cash in a book, especially among young couples.
“This idea of your guests sponsoring this next step in your life is very effective,” she said.
The Trump administration is tackling affordable housing
Hobbs is among those in the Trump administration who have promised to make housing easier.
On March 13, the President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing regulations that slow new home construction and drive up construction costs as part of a broader effort to address the nation’s housing affordability crisis.
The order signed Friday came a day after the Senate passed the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which seeks to increase the supply of housing and reduce barriers to construction.
The bill contains a number of housing reforms aimed at making it easier to build and finance housing. It also places restrictions on large institutional investors buying single-family homes.
Friday’s separate order focuses on increasing access to credit by reducing regulatory burdens on lenders, especially small community banks, to make mortgage loans easier for qualified buyers.
