The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing featuring HUD Secretary Scott Turner on the Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration.
Both parties spoke about tackling the affordable housing crisis and shared their support for the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which passed the committee in December.
- Democrats sharply criticized Secretary Turner for dismantling the Fair Housing Office, terminating the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, restructuring the Continuum of Care (CoC) NOFO, and firing HUD staff across all programs.
- Republicans voiced support for Secretary Turner’s actions to curb “waste, fraud, and abuse” across HUD programs. Rep. Kim (R-CA) and Rep. Lawler (R-NY) broke with their party to urge caution on CoC NOFO changes, citing concerns from providers in their districts about the potential loss of continuous funding.
Other notable moments included:
- Rep. Barr (R-KY) mentioned his support for raising the public welfare investment (PWI) cap.
- Rep. Flood (R-NE) and Rep. Downing (R-MT) asked Secretary Turner to look at HUD’s guidance on BABA and to work together on reforms.
- Rep. Loudermilk (R-GA) confirmed that Secretary Turner is supportive of Congress’s effort to repeal the Covid-era 30-day eviction notice requirement in federally assisted housing, sending eviction authority back to the states.
