Former Texas state Rep. Scott Turner nominated to lead HUD : NPR

President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Texas Congressman Scott Turner to be his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Turner spent nine seasons in the NFL with teams in Washington, San Diego and Denver before being twice elected to the Texas House of Representatives, where he served from 2013 to 2017.

Turner currently chairs the Center for Educational Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by former Trump administration officials.

During Trump’s first term in 2019, he appointed Turner to head the council tasked with rebuilding distressed communities. That included directing billions of dollars in private investment to so-called opportunity zones, areas struggling with high unemployment and dilapidated housing. The initiative drew bipartisan praise, but critics said it benefited wealthy investors who received tax breaks more than local residents.

The first Trump administration tried to limit housing assistance and cut HUD’s budget.

The first Trump administration repeatedly proposed generous budgetcut It was submitted to HUD but never passed Congress. some enforcement activity to limit public assistance Housing allowances and other allowances were determined late in the period, but were never finalized. But many housing policy and anti-poverty advocates believe this time will be different.

Scott Turner, director of the Center for Educational Opportunities at the America First Institute for Policy Studies, speaks at an event at the institute in January 2022.

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“The agenda is much more organized,” said Peggy Bailey, executive vice president of policy and program development at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “We expect some pretty significant budget battles.”

For one thing, she says there will be fewer moderate Republicans likely to push back in the next Congress. The Trump team will then take office with a wide range of policy proposals set out in Project 2025. Trump has denied any connection to the Heritage Foundation documents, but HUD chapter The document was written by first-term HUD Secretary Ben Carson and includes many proposals from his time leading the department.

Project 2025 proposals include:

• The following family members are prohibited from participating. illegal member Stop living in federally assisted housing. Illegal immigrants are already barred from receiving subsidies. But a HUD analysis found that the rule could put tens of thousands of families, mostly children, who are U.S. citizens or legal residents at risk of eviction or homelessness.

• By eliminating new federal funds, increase supply of affordable housing. A footnote to this entry states that federally subsidized housing increases demand and distorts the market. It suggests that a better approach is to encourage construction by relaxing local zoning rules and streamlining regulations.

• Repeal (again) regulations intended to prevent racial segregation and comply with fair housing laws. carson were discussing The rule called for “unworkable requirements.”

• end the homeless policy known as housing firstwhich puts people into subsidized housing and helps them deal with drug and mental health addictions. with playing cards conservative ally Homeless advocates say abstinence should be the first requirement, something they say has been tried and failed before.

• Tightens work requirements for people receiving federal housing subsidies. (The first Trump administration also tried this with food aid recipients, but it was blocked in federal court.)

Beyond Project 2025, Bailey and others continue to propose deep funding cuts to HUD and across a wide range of other social safety net programs, including health care, food assistance, and medical assistance, for more than a decade. The government continues to propose cuts in the trillions of dollars. Heating and cooling costs.

As for significant funding cuts, “the optics there might not be good.”

If all these budget proposals pass, “we should expect to see a significant increase in both the extent of poverty and the depth of poverty,” said the Brookings Institution visiting scholar and founder and former director of the center. says Bob Greenstein. On budget and policy priorities.

Dr. Ben Carson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, will speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.

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He also finds it ironic, since many of the programs target not only the poor but also those with moderate incomes. “The people who will be hardest hit are working-class families, the very people who are now part of the workforce. [Trump’s] It’s a political platform,” he says.

But not everyone thinks that’s likely.

“I would be surprised if these deep budget cuts actually pass,” said Kevin Corinto, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who served as economic adviser in the Trump White House.

He said the presidential campaign has made it clear that the high cost of living is a big issue for many Americans and that “America’s optics may not be very good to turn things around.” It is said that

He believes his administration will be better able to advance regulatory reforms it began in its first term, such as restricting non-citizens from entering public housing and tightening enforcement of work requirements.

Corinth also supports Project 2025’s long-term goals for HUD. These include selling land owned by public housing corporations to private developers for “greater economic use.” That could mean fewer people living in traditional public housing and more people instead using federal vouchers to rent on the private market. Project 2025 also calls for moving rent subsidies to other institutions and setting time limits on rent subsidies to help people become more self-sufficient.

Corinthos argues that time limits make sense because people don’t have the right to borrow aid, unlike food or medical care. Only one in four people actually qualify. “So it would be much fairer for families to say, ‘Look, you’re going to get this support, but it’s only for a few years, get back on your feet,'” he says.

But none of these changes are “real solutions,” said Sara Saadian of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. She says dismantling HUD only shifts responsibility. And while most residents who are able to work are already working, “they just aren’t getting paid enough to buy a home,” she said.

In any case, Corinthos believes the incoming Trump administration has more pressing priorities than a complete transformation of HUD’s role. That includes pushing for large-scale tax cuts in the first year. If housing is on the agenda, he believes it will likely focus on the private market and address the massive shortages that are causing soaring house prices and rents.