[ad_1]
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced Monday that she will resign this month after three years presiding over seismic shifts in the housing market brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic changes. Announced.
Fudge, 71, a longtime member of the Ohio House of Representatives, said his decision was based on a desire to spend more time with his 92-year-old mother. He suggested that it was unlikely to happen. However, her resignation undermined the White House’s plan to keep the president’s cabinet and senior team intact until the November vote.
“Under Marcia’s transformational leadership, we have worked hard to lower housing costs and increase supply,” President Biden said in a statement. “Thanks to Secretary Fudge, we are working to help first-time home buyers and reduce rent costs,” he added. And there are more homes under construction now than at any time in the past 50 years. ”
Mr. Fudge is the second of the original 15 Cabinet members designated by law to leave under Mr. Biden, matching the lowest turnover rate in modern times. This is a sharp contrast to the administration of former President Donald J. Trump, whose cabinet was a virtual turnstile on a subway train, with cabinet members resigning and being fired. Biden’s Labor Secretary, Marty Walsh, resigned a year ago.
Last fall, White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey D. Zients promised all remaining members of the Cabinet that they would remain in office for the remainder of Biden’s term, or immediately to avoid key positions becoming vacant during an election year. He had requested either a transfer or a transfer. A White House official who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters said Ms. Fudge had made that promise at the time, but felt forced to change her mind given her mother’s age.
The White House said in a statement that Adrian Todman, deputy housing secretary, will take over as acting secretary once Fudge’s resignation is formally announced on March 22. With only seven months until November, it seems unlikely that a new nominee will be selected, vetted, and confirmed by the Senate before the election. Mr Walsh’s named successor has yet to be confirmed, 13 months after he announced his resignation.
Fudge, a former mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, who served in the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2021, plans to return to Ohio to be with his mother and other family members and will run for office again. He said he had no intention of doing so.
“It’s time to go home,” Fudge told USA Today. “I strongly believe that we have done just about everything we can at HUD for this administration as we head into this crazy, stupid election season.”
In a statement, she said she made the decision to step down with “mixed emotions” but was proud to use her platform to help those less fortunate. Fudge, the first Black woman to lead the department in more than 40 years, will help families avoid foreclosure, make it easier for people with student loan debt to get federally backed mortgages, and improve mortgage insurance. He cited efforts to reduce fees and guarantee mortgages. In terms of transaction volume, Black borrowers outnumbered her three times as much, and Hispanic borrowers outperformed her twice as much.
“HUD serves people who are often marginalized and left behind,” Fudge said. “These are my people. They have been my motivation for everything we have been able to accomplish.”
Biden credited Fudge with reviving the department, which he described as neglect during the Trump era. “When I took office, we inherited a broken housing system in which fair housing and civil rights protections were severely dismantled under the previous administration.”
“On day one, Marcia began working to rebuild the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Over the past three years, she has expanded our efforts to build intergenerational wealth through homeownership, reduce costs, and promote equity.” “I have strongly advocated this,” he added. For American renters. ”
Housing costs are rising faster than inflation, posing a challenge especially for young Americans just starting out, and hampering efforts in major cities to tackle growing homelessness. Last year, shelter costs increased by an average of 6%, while the overall inflation rate was 3%.
“We know that housing costs are critical to families across America,” Biden said Monday in a speech at the National League of Cities in Washington. He said that now that inflation has fallen, mortgage rates should also be lowered soon.
“But I’m not waiting,” he added. In his budget released Monday, he said he is proposing a tax cut of about $400 a month for the next three years to help eligible homebuyers. truth. “
He said his plan would also help provide $8 billion to local governments to build 2 million new housing units and move unhoused people off the streets. “The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” he said. “That way we can lower housing costs forever.”
[ad_2]
Source link
