We can say this much about Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner: He’s enthusiastic about his new job.
Start with “Opportunity Zones.” While working at the White House under the first Trump administration, Turner helped execute the idea with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) as it became law through the prior round of Trump tax cuts.
Less than a decade later, both Turner and Scott say they want to expand opportunity zones in a big way. They’re approaching that task now with considerable bumps in seniority – Scott as the Senate Banking Committee Chair and Turner as a cabinet secretary.
“I’m very excited about that work with Tim Scott and his ROAD to Housing Act, with his team, to not only continue opportunity zones,” Turner told us. “But man, to unleash the potential in our country, from an investment standpoint, from a building standpoint – so yeah, if you can’t tell, I’m really excited about that.”
The program has its critics, who contend it’s been more of a boon for wealthy investors than low income communities. A 2023 Treasury report found it was “too soon to reach conclusions” about the tax credit’s effectiveness. Turner and Scott, however, remain enthusiastic.
There are serious political and policy risks facing Turner and his tenure at HUD. The department’s portfolio covers some of the most sensitive shelter services and programs for all kinds of at-risk populations. His approach – including a new taskforce to use federal land for affordable housing development – is still coming into focus, but housing professionals have reported disruptions across a variety of federal programs.
Just this week, Congressional Democrats accused Turner of improperly cutting back fair housing initiatives – a charge HUD has denied.
Turner acknowledges the stakes. “We serve the most vulnerable population in our country,” the HUD secretary said. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have significant changes in the works. More than once during our interview, Turner said it was time for a “paradigm shift” in federal housing programs.
“Public housing is not supposed to be permanent,” Turner said. “Public housing is a trampoline, if you will, to help the most vulnerable of our society. It was never meant to be a hammock.”
Deregulation nation: Turner, along with the rest of the Trump administration, has made clear that torching regulation is the order of the day.
“The federal government, from my point, has literally lost its focus through the years. The federal government has focused on getting bigger, instead of serving the American people,” Turner said.
The deregulation push has, in theory, some bipartisan support. But the details will be critical. We won’t know many of them for a while, as Turner continues to take “inventory of all programs here at HUD that deal with housing,” he said.
But some focuses are clear and have a role for Congress to play. Turner backs one reform tucked inside Scott’s ROAD to Housing Act: modifying the policy that requires a steel frame, or “chassis,” to run through the foundation of a manufactured housing unit in order to meet HUD standards. Developers have complained that the requirement, required by statute, is obsolete and has limited the design of units.
“We need to work with Congress to address the permanent chassis requirement, to unleash more creativity, to bring in more development of manufactured homes,” Turner said.
Funding fears: Like the rest of the Trump administration, Turner is talking about reducing federal spending. There’s a lot of it in the housing space, and Democrats like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) have spent years pushing for greater levels of investment.
That is not Turner’s objective. But we wanted to press the HUD secretary – did he see any role for federal funding in housing, or is every dollar a mistake?
Again, Turner acknowledged that HUD’s programs were for “most vulnerable” in the country. Then, he said:
How he’ll do that remains to be seen. One option, Turner said, is work requirements.
Another target for Turner’s HUD: The formulas that determine the allocations of key programs managed by the department. Turner identified the Community Development Block Grant program as one example.
“We’re responsible for the CDBG fund. That, and other formulas at HUD programs, haven’t been looked at since the 70s. Really, a lot of the formulas for funding have been on autopilot,” Turner said. With help from Congress, he added, HUD needs to evaluate each formula “so that we don’t have to rewrite the rules every time a disaster hits.”
Crypto? In my HUD? The nonprofit newsroom ProPublica published a story earlier this month that suggested the department was considering an “experiment” involving blockchain and HUD grants.
We asked Turner if there was anything there, or if he had any announcements to make in digital asset policy.
“No sir,” Turner replied. “There’s no merit to it.” Fair enough.
