Americans have been hit by high housing costs, with author and Heartland Institute senior fellow Justin Haskins pointing out earlier this year that home prices are 7.64 times greater than the median household income.

However, one observer recently suggested that President-elect Donald Trump can change that by ending a major policy. 

Heavy fines for unknowingly damaging endangered habitat

Attorney and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt made that argument in an op-ed piece about the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which was published by Fox News on Tuesday.

Hewitt began by pointing out how "more than 1,300 species are listed as either endangered" under the ESA, a piece of legislation he says "has been administered (and abused) by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)."

He then explained that "the ESA prohibits the 'taking' of an endangered or threatened species," which refers to acts that "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect."

Anyone who engages in a "taking" faces penalties beginning at $25,000 for each member of a species affected. That figure rises to $50,000 and is accompanies by up to a year behind bars if the taking is "knowingly" committed.

What's more, Hewitt quickly noted that the Fish and Wildlife Service ("FWS") has defined "harm" to include "significant habitat modification or degradation."

Hewitt: Many "endangered" species aren't rare

In his view, these laws and regulations amount to "the greatest uncompensated, ongoing "taking" of private property in the country."

The radio host went on to assert that "[m]any of the species on the federal government’s list are not actually "endangered" in any common sense understanding of the term."

Opinion | Morning Glory: Trump can unleash a housing boom by ending the 'endangered species' scam https://t.co/NQqfrVr6ld

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 19, 2024

Rather, Hewitt maintained that "they are on the federal list because of extrapolations made by bureaucrats into the distant future of the theoretical amount of habitat the species will need to survive."

Host says current regulations don't actually protect endangered species

He cited "the California gnatcatcher, the Stephen’s kangaroo rat, and the San Diego fairy shrimp" as examples, saying they "are abundant in Southern California."

"None of it is necessary," Hewitt wrote as he drew to a close. "Not much of the elaborate mouse-trap actually works to preserve species."

The commentator concluded by contending that "if the United States is going to boom again" then "Team Trump" will have to bring immediate regulatory reform.