New Publication Calls for Increased Role for HUD

A new publication to be released in January calls on President-Elect Barack Obama to create a White House Office on Metropolitan Policy and an increased commitment to housing within his first 100 days in office.

The publication, Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President is being published by the Center for American Progress. The group was founded by John Podesta who is serving as head of Obama’s transition team. The book includes a chapter on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The chapter’s authors, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and his former Chief of Staff Bruce Katz, call HUD a “legacy government – an overly compartmentalized agency administering programs and policies more suited to an earlier era, with information systems that impede rather than facilitate customer service and accountability.”

The authors suggest the new HUD Secretary focus on four key tasks in his/her first 100 days in office. They are:

1. Recruit the “best and the brightest” to work at HUD particularly for the positions of deputy secretary; assistant secretary for housing/FHA, public and Indian housing, fair housing and equal opportunity, and community planning and development;
2. Respond aggressively to finally address the mortgage crisis and restoring the Gulf Coast destroyed by Hurricane Katrina;
3. Aggressively establish budget priorities in fiscal years 2009 and 2010; and,
4. Establish a White House Office of Metropolitan Policy.

They argue HUD has not been a central player in the mortgage crisis. To address the mortgage crisis they argue that the new president should create a mortgage-crisis working group headed by the secretaries of HUD and Treasury to review all actions related to the current financial situation. They argue this group should offer a series of recommendations in three areas: regulatory and counseling; restoring the positive role of FHA, and recommending actions to address the fallout from the foreclosures. Second, they feel correcting the situation in the Gulf Coast is a major issue the HUD secretary should address.

They call for the HUD Secretary to submit an aggressive budget which includes 100,000 additional vouchers, creating a new $500 million grant program to preserve older assisted housing, restore funding for the HOPE VI, CDBG, public housing programs, and create an Office of Sustainable Housing to align housing policy with the goals of climate change and energy security.

The White House Office of Metropolitan Policy is envisioned to facilitate local collaboration in areas such as economic and workforce development, transportation, energy and housing. The paper calls for this office to design and implement “a new performance partnership with metropolitan areas.” The authors envision this office working closely with the heads of the departments of HUD, EPA, Transportation, Labor, Commerce, treasury and Education.

Obama has stated he will create an Office of Urban Affairs in the White House. There is speculation Katz will be named director of that office.

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