Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Job Description

The American Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a cabinet-level official tasked with increasing the country's affordable housing stock, promoting community development, maintaining public housing, and providing mortgage insurance on real estate purchases.

A president-elect selects a nominee for HUD secretary who must win confirmation in the US Senate. Once confirmed, the secretary is sworn into office—typically by the vice president—and then assumes control of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, headquartered in Washington, DC.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development works to ensure that Americans receive the housing options that suit their personal and economic needs. The secretary mainly focuses on the low-income housing market, which commercial lenders often overlook. The HUD secretary works with a deputy secretary, an inspector general, and various assistant secretaries who oversee specific focus areas.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is thirteenth in presidential succession. In some cases, HUD secretaries use the position as a springboard to higher office. Andrew Cuomo, who served under President Bill Clinton, helped parlay the role into multiple terms as governor of New York. Julián Castro, HUD secretary under President Barack Obama, launched a presidential campaign in the first cycle after he left office.

Typically, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has a background in housing policy. The first HUD secretary was Robert C. Weaver of New York, nominated for the office by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Weaver was the first Black American named to a cabinet post. He had previously served as vice-chairman of the New York City Housing and Redevelopment Board, which established a precedent for the post's qualifications under both Democrats and Republicans.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the White House's chief emissary to homeowners, renters, and landlords. They manage several agencies and housing programs:

1. 1. Federal Housing Administration: The FHA is a New Deal-era agency created by the Fair Housing Act of 1934. HUD absorbed the FHA when it was established in 1965. The FHA provides mortgage insurance and helps regulate interest rates. Initially, the FHA focused on single-family homes, but it has embraced multifamily housing to serve low-income families’ housing needs better.
2. 2. Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity: The FHEO enforces anti-discrimination acts like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 to ensure that lenders and landlords refrain from any sort of housing discrimination based on race, sex, gender, sexuality, or religion.
3. 3. Office of Community Planning and Development: The CPD distributes community development block grants to local governments to provide housing vouchers and alleviate homelessness.
4. 4. Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight: The OFHEO seeks to promote affordability and liquidity in the US housing market. To increase lending to American homebuyers, it manages two mortgage lenders—Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation).
5. 5. Government National Mortgage Association: The Government National Mortgage Association, also known as Ginnie Mae, provides mortgage-backed securities that the federal government guarantees. These bundled mortgages are backed by the Federal Housing Administration, making them a more secure financial product than the mortgage-backed securities sold by lenders in the lead-up to the 2008 housing collapse.
6. 6. Office of Policy Development and Research: OPDR is a branch of HUD that provides housing research data to the federal government to inform policy out of both the White House and Congress.

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