The Story Thus Far: Housing
Thus far, most coverage of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has focused on the fact that the man named to lead it, Ben Carson, appears opposed to its core mission.
- Sheryl Gay Stolberg describes the mission of HUD and notes criticisms of Ben Carson and Donald Trump as leaders of the agency for NYT.
- Jamelle Bouie argues Ben Carson is unqualified to be HUD Secretary and provides a rundown of his confirmation hearing at Slate.
- Carson criticized integrated housing as “social engineering” in a 2015 op-ed, though he dials back during his confirmation hearing.
- The administration is considering $6B in cuts to HUD, though negotiations are ongoing. Kelsey Ramirez at HousingWire argues these cuts would cause housing shortages and dampen economic growth; Senate Democrats express concern that cuts will mean health hazards and note Carson said he would not cut existing HUD programs during his confirmation hearing.
- Trump plans to reduce regulatory burden on small- and medium-sized banks as part of his rollback of Dodd-Frank (executive order overhauling Dodd-Frank regulations and brief comment here).
- The Office of the Inspector General for HUD finds that HUD did not adequately oversee more than $16B in FHA loans, putting the FHA fund that insures borrowers at risk; HUD disagrees (report and response here).