Stop Treating HUD Like A Second-Tier Department

[JonLP24]

Ben Carson apparently still hasn’t decided whether to accept Donald Trump’s alleged offer to appoint him secretary of housing and urban development.1 If he does accept the position, it will mark a reversal for the retired neurosurgeon, whose adviser earlier said Carson didn’t want to serve in Trump’s Cabinet because he has “never run an agency.”2 But whether or not Carson is qualified for the HUD role, the agency that he might end up running is one of the most important in the federal government — even if that isn’t always how it is treated by incoming presidents.

HUD sometimes has a reputation as a bureaucratic backwater — presidents rarely put their closest advisers in charge of it. But in terms of its impact on Americans’ lives, HUD is far from second-tier. It has a budget of nearly $50 billion and employs over 8,000 workers. Its programs have a major impact on poverty, home ownership and affordability. Its data collection and enforcement roles are key for fighting discrimination and segregation. Here are four reasons why HUD and housing policy matter. Let’s hope President-elect Trump and maybe-Secretary Carson see that.

Poverty

Housing should be at the center of any attempt to fight poverty. Recent research by Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, among others, has shown that inadequate housing is often a catalyst for a cycle of poverty; it triggers residential instability, which hurts the life outcomes of children and their parents. And for the poorest of the poor, the homeless, experts are increasingly promoting a “housing first” approach, in which authorities try to help people find housing as a first step toward addressing other poverty challenges.

But housing policy in the U.S. is skewed toward rewarding wealthy homeowners (with tax deductions) rather than renters, who tend to be poorer. HUD oversees the Section 8 housing voucher program, which helps about 5 million people pay for private housing. Another roughly 2 million people are in public housing.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/stop-treating-hud-like-a-second-tier-department/

[JonLP24]

1. Afternoon kick