Senate Banking Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to increase funding for affordable housing or use existing funding better as they pushed Eric Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to take a side.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in her debut as the top Democrat on the panel, pressed Turner at Thursday’s hearing on whether he would support allocating additional federal money to build more affordable housing to start filling a housing gap of about 7 million units.
“What I do support is maximizing the budget that we do have,” Turner said.
Warren, D-Mass., probed further: “So, is that a ‘no’ to additional investments?”
As he would several times during the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Turner said he would assess existing HUD initiatives.
“It’s a ‘yes’ to maximizing the investment we have, and making sure that the programs we do have are meeting the intended need and serving those that are intended to serve,” Turner said.
Warren wasn’t satisfied.
“I have to say, that gives me real pause,” she said.
HUD appropriations for fiscal 2024 totaled $75.6 billion, including funds offset by mortgage insurance program receipts. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal 2025 bill in July that would provide a comparable $78.2 billion in programmatic funding for HUD.
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., asked Turner whether he would oppose cuts to community development block grants and to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program that provides federal assistance to state and local governments to build affordable housing.
Turner didn’t directly address the specific programs.
“As you know, Congress holds the purse strings to the budget,” Turner said. “My job, if confirmed as secretary, is to maximize that budget to meet the needs of our country to serve those we’ve been called to serve.”
Republicans encouraged Turner to focus first on existing HUD money before seeking more. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., referred to Turner’s former career as a defensive back for three NFL teams.
“You have to be ready to intercept a lot of bad ideas in your new role,” Tillis said. “One bad idea is just throwing money after something without trying to figure out how to fix the plumbing in HUD.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in his first hearing as committee chairman, stressed local rather than federal leadership to increase the nation’s housing stock.
“As a former chairman of the County Council in Charleston, South Carolina, I can tell you that the vast majority … of housing issues must be solved at the local level,” Scott said in his opening statement. “But there are things that we can do here in Congress to address the affordability crisis. And that role is getting government out of the way as often as possible.”
Turner’s confirmation doesn’t appear to be in any trouble.
Warren didn’t indicate after the hearing how she would vote. She said she wanted to wait for Turner’s answers to written questions.
“But it is clear that although we may have different approaches and different ideas on the table, everyone in that room is committed to lowering the cost of housing that is urgently necessary for the American people, and that’s what that hearing is all about,” Warren told reporters. “I will work with anyone who will work to lower the cost of housing for families.”
The committee hasn’t set a date to vote, according to a panel aide. Scott asked senators to submit questions for the record by Friday and for Turner to answer them by Sunday.
Turner is a former Texas state legislator and was head of the White House Office of Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump administration. Since the end of his football career, he has worked at a software company, founded a nonprofit organization focused on children living in poverty and is now chief visionary officer at JPI, a builder of affordable multifamily units.
Turner said growing up in a broken, economically challenged family in Richardson, Texas, and having an uncle who experienced homelessness gave him an understanding of HUD’s efforts to help the vulnerable.
“I share my story because I think it’s important for you to know my heart of who I am and also because the challenges that HUD faces are vital to our nation as well as personal to me,” said Turner, who sprinkled references to his religious faith throughout his testimony. “These are not just things I heard about or read about. These are things that my family and I have experienced through the years. I believe that perspective will be very beneficial to HUD as I become the leader, if confirmed by this committee.”
He added that the country has a “housing and homelessness crisis” and that HUD is “failing at its most basic mission, and that has to come to an end. As a country, we’re not building enough housing. We need millions of homes, all kinds of homes: multifamily, single-family, duplex, condos, manufactur[ed] housing, you name it.”
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