Department Of Housing And Urban Development

Reset HUD.

This effort should specifically include a broad reversal of the Biden Administration’s persistent implementation of corrosive progressive ideologies across the department’s programs.

Implement an action plan across both process and people. This plan should include both the immediate redelegation of authority to a cadre of political appointees and the urgent implementation of administrative regulatory actions with respect to HUD policy and program eligibility.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) admin- isters a web of federal programs with mandates to support access to homeownership and affordable rental housing, relieve temporary housing instability for homeless persons, preserve a stable inventory of public housing units, and enforce mandates with powers to settle compliance matters ranging from housing quality standards to housing discrimination cases.

Politicians across party lines use HUD to promise ever-greater public benefits. In addition, HUD programs tend to perpetuate the notion of bureaucratically provided housing as a basic life need and, whether intentionally or not, fail to acknowledge that these public benefits too often have led to intergenerational poverty traps, have implicitly penalized family formation in traditional two-parent marriages, and have discouraged work and income growth, thereby limiting upward mobility. A new conservative Administration will therefore need to:

Reverse HUD’s mission creep over nearly a century of program implementation dating from the Department’s New Deal forebears. HUD’s new political leadership team will need to reexamine the federal government’s role in housing markets across the nation and consider whether it is time for a “reform, reinvention, and renewal”1 that transfers Department functions to separate federal agencies, states, and localities.

OVERVIEW

HUD was created by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 19652 and since then has administered several programs that had been administered by the Housing and Home Finance Agency. With a proposed fiscal year (FY) budget authority totaling $71.9 billion and 8,326 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees,3 it remains the largest government agency charged with implementing federal housing policy.

In addition to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., HUD has 10 regional offices as well as field offices and centers to implement specialized operational and enforcement responsibilities.4 HUD program offices also interface with various networks of implementing organizations such as locally chartered public housing agencies (PHAs) and federal, state, and local government and judicial bodies as well as such private industry participants as mortgage lenders.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development can delegate authority to various entities across an array of HUD programs.5 The Secretary also oversees the Office of the Deputy Secretary;6 the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA);7 the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU);8 and the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP).9 The Office of the Secretary also comprises a team of politically appointed positions and career support staff. Each of the following offices should be headed by political appointees except where otherwise noted.

Office of Administration, headed by the Chief Administration Officer. The Office of Administration has responsibilities for the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHO, headed by the Chief Human Capital Officer, currently a career position) and the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO, headed by the Chief Procurement Officer, currently a career position). Office of the Chief Financial Officer, headed by the Chief

Financial Officer.

Office of the Chief Information Officer, headed by the Chief Information Officer.

Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations (CIR), headed by a Senate-confirmed AS or PDAS.

Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), headed by a Senate-confirmed AS or Principal DAS. CPD administers various entitlement and non-entitlement programs across community development, disaster recovery, and housing for the homeless10 and individuals with special needs, including Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA). The two largest CPD-administered programs are the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program,11 which includes disaster recovery funding, and the Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME).12 CPD’s Relocation and Real Estate Division (RRED) has departmental delegated authority for the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970.13

Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), headed by a Senate-confirmed AS or PDAS. PIH administers public housing and tenant-based rental assistance programs, as well as authorities for Native American and Native Hawaiian housing assistance and loan guarantee programs under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHSDA).14 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance represents the major portion of HUD’s nonemergency discretionary budget. HUD describes its Housing Choice Voucher Program as “an essential component of the Federal housing safety net for people in need.”15 PIH also implements funding for the Self- Sufficiency Coordinator Program; the Public Housing Fund (operating and capital funds for PHA administration of Section 9 public housing and Section 8 voucher programs); and Choice Neighborhoods (zeroed out during the Trump Administration budget request but included in HUD’s FY 2023 budget, which requests $250 million for the program).16

Office of Housing and Federal Housing Administration (FHA), headed by a dual-hatted, Senate-confirmed AS and Federal Housing Commissioner or Acting Federal Housing Commissioner. The Office of Housing oversees implementation of the department’s project-based rental assistance (PBRA) multifamily housing portfolio, Section 202 supportive housing for the elderly program, Section 811 program for disabled persons’ housing, and Housing Counseling Assistance program. The Federal Housing Administration administers the Mutual Mortgage Insurance

Office of Public Affairs, headed by a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary (AS) or Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS).

Program (MMIF) and various other mortgage insurance, direct loan, and loan guarantee programs for single-family housing, multifamily housing, hospitals, and health care facilities that meet certain conditions.17

Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), headed by a Sen- ate-confirmed GNMA President or Executive Vice President. GNMA oversees more than $2 billion in federal guarantees to mortgage-backed securities structured from mortgages that are pooled from various federal programs, including mortgages backed by programs outside of HUD, principally the sin- gle-family mortgage guarantee programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Rural Housing Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FHA-insured single-family housing mortgages comprise the largest share of GNMA-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities. Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity, headed by a Director.

Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), headed by a Senate-confirmed AS or PDAS. The Assistant Secretary for FHEO is the designated HUD official responsible for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,18 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,19 and Section 109 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. After informal efforts to resolve noncompliance, the AS for FHEO may make a formal finding of noncompliance and initiate enforcement action before an administrative tribunal or a referral to the Department of Justice. Office of General Counsel (OGC), headed by the General Counsel or Principal Deputy General Counsel. OGC handles department-wide legal and compliance oversight advice with supervision responsibilities for the Deputy General Counsel for Housing Programs, Deputy General Counsel for Operations, and Deputy General Counsel for Enforcement and Fair Housing as well as the Departmental Enforcement Center.20

Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC), headed by a Director. OHHLHC was established in the early 1990s to eliminate lead-based paint hazards in America’s privately owned and low-income housing, address healthy housing initiatives, and enforce lead-based paint regulations authorized under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (Title X of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992).21 These functions overlap with similar functions of the Environmental Protection Agency (also authorized to enforce lead-based paint regulations under Title X) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Homes Initiative, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, and National Asthma Control Program.

Office of Inspector General (OIG), headed by an Inspector General. The OIG is independent of HUD and one of 12 Inspectors General across the federal government authorized under the Inspector General Act of 1978.22 Operating under its own budget authority and strategic plan, the HUD OIG conducts internal and external audits and investigations of HUD programs and operations. While independent of HUD and holding no enforcement powers over HUD programs, HUD OIG works closely with the Office of General Counsel, the Departmental Enforcement Center, and HUD program offices. The Inspector General serves as an adviser to and non- voting member of the FHA Mortgagee Review Board. Office of Field Policy and Management (FPM), headed by an Assistant Deputy Secretary for FPM. FPM supports the Secretary through regional and field office communication and external engagement with various community stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of Secretarial initiatives and special projects.

HUD REFORM PILLARS

Ideally, Congress would redelegate authorities that have been diverted to HUD’s administrative bureaucracy and safeguard taxpayers against the mission creep that inevitably occurs when Congress delegates power to an empowered and unelected bureaucracy that is insulated by civil service protections. If implemented, the reforms proposed in this chapter can help a new conservative Administration to use its Article II powers to rectify bureaucratic overreach, reverse the expansion of programs beyond their statutory authority, and end progressive policies that have been put in place at the department.

Office of Policy Development and Research (PDR), headed by a Senate- confirmed AS or PDAS. PDR was established in the early 1970s and today administers research activities, including external contract research grants, and provides analytical and policy advice to senior HUD staff. PDR also provides publicly available statistics through the American Housing Survey (AHS), which is sponsored by HUD and conducted by the Census Bureau; the State of the Cities Data Systems; data on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC); and annual Fair Market Rents and Income Limits data, among other statistical publications and datasets on the characteristics of families assisted under HUD programs.

It is hoped that a future Congress under conservative leadership will enact legis- lative reforms of HUD programs. With or without congressional action, however, it is vital that a conservative Administration immediately institute guardrails across HUD programs to remove the administrative state’s bureaucratic overreach of Article I authorities, thereby ensuring formal execution of Article II process and personnel reforms of the sort outlined below.