Housing and Urban Development Secretary (HUD) Scott Turner is “a serious effort to make housing affordable” for all Americans. His mission began by reorienting the department that had lost its way under President Joe Biden.
“From day one, the president said, 'We want to make housing affordable again,'” Turner told Breitbart News in a lengthy interview from his office at Had's Washington headquarters on Wednesday at President Donald Trump's 100th day office.
Turner explained that his work is turning Americans into an organization that puts Americans first – providing Americans a path from government assistance to independence, towards independence – described the key role of HUD if it is not playing a key role in President Donald Trump's first American agenda.
That was Hercules' work. Turner's challenge from the gate was to “restore the HUD's mission-oriented focus on the Biden administration,” he explained. “They lost their vision's focus and didn't make the main focus. It's about serving our country's most vulnerable population, as it relates to homelessness, disaster recovery, rationalizing the process, efficient and effective, and housing affordability.”
The Biden administration dumped resources on agents, but as the administration's own numbers suggest, they mismanaged them badly. “HUD saw a 18% rise in homelessness in our country despite having record funds. Over 770,000 people became homeless on one night in January 2024,” Turner told Breitbart News.
To begin the conversion, Turner decides what he has to do.
“When we came in, we said we were going to stock all of the HUD programs and make sure we are a good custodian of the US taxpayer dollar,” he said.
Essential to that stewardship is the idea that the programs HUD offers to Americans should not be permanently available.
“We are community development with a very unique mission, and part of our mission is not to increase the amount of people involved in government subsidies, government subsidies,” Turner said. “We want to remove people from government subsidies.”
HUD plays a major role throughout the federal government, not only to provide housing for struggling Americans, but also to reduce homelessness, especially for the nation's veterans. Turner acknowledges that working with the federal government is not always easy for Americans, so HUD establishes public-private partnerships that include faith-based organizations.
“When talking about homelessness, the government is not a housing solution. It is not a homeless solution. It is a great convener and a great facilitator,” he said. “An open home, it was never intended to be a permanent solution.”
President Lyndon Johnson created the HUD as part of his great social program to eliminate poverty, but the institutions are operating too often counterproductively. Turner frequently said that since the creation and expansion of LBJ's welfare programme, “the evil incentives, including 20-30 years of public housing, have crippled our country.”
“We understand that people may need vouchers and sometimes they may need help, but our goal is to exist forever in public housing and not use it as a hammock or rest area, but actually use it as a trampoline as a trajectory.”
The influx of immigrants under President Biden was an undeniable driving force for a decline in the availability of affordable housing. Breitbart News' John Binder is reporting, and there are almost 20 million illegal foreigners living in the United States.
Increased demand for housing and the resulting increased housing costs have impacted all Americans, with HUD working throughout the Trump administration to mitigate the crisis.
“The Biden administration has given illegal foreigners ahead of American citizens. Well, we're turning it around. We're stopping that,” declared Turner. “Homes with HUD funding, taxpayer dollars, are for American citizens only.”
Under the Biden administration, HUD had not taken any steps to ensure housing was provided to American citizens. Turner has installed these safeguards and has worked with Secretary Christa Noem to sign a Data Sharing Memorandum (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security.
“Who lives in HUD-funded housing? People who live there, are they legal? They aren't? We know, as we know, we have people who live in HUD-funded housing. [housing] I'm heading towards American citizens. ”
Turner has also worked to ensure that he only goes to American citizens, not illegal aliens, by removing the “permanent resident category” from the loan offering.
“The Biden administration has turned blind and allowed non-permanent residents to secure FHA mortgages, so we have reliably taken that category out of the FHA again.
Disaster relief through the Community Development Block's Grant Disaster Recovery Program is another important HUD function and another area where the Biden administration has dropped the ball.
The Biden administration's bangled recovery efforts after a storm in the southeast became a problem in the 2024 election, with California's horrifying wildfires hit just days before Trump was sworn in.
“We want people to be able to rebuild their families, rebuild their homes, rebuild their communities and businesses,” Turner told Breitbart News. He and Trump said, “We went to California, Louisiana. We visited Parisades and Altadena. It was destroyed and devastated by the fire. We personally met with our family, our lost church pastors, our lost school educators, our homeless business owners and families. It crippled and hindered the process.”
In addition to promoting federal aid, Turner told California Democratic leaders that their people “want to rebuild, but it's very difficult to do so. And I encouraged leaders to look at your regulations, see bureaucracy, tore it apart and help families rebuild.
Turner and Trump also traveled to Asheville, a massive hurricane in North Carolina.
“The devastation of a fire is one thing, but when you look at the devastation of the water, it's another, especially in the mountains of North Carolina where the entire property is lost. “But the same issue has regulations.”
He continued. “The resilience of people in both California and Asheville has been very encouraging for me, but leadership needs to understand that it needs to be better and easier for people to rebuild.”
Under Turner, HUD stepped up.
“We added another $2.5 million in areas affected by the hurricane,” he said. “We can also add a 90-day extension at the FHA, moratorium, make sure families are not being seized, give them more time, give them more flexibility, give them more room, and get them planning and strategy.”
Turner said that one of the most serious but ultimately rewarding responsibilities of being a secretary is “you get to meet people where they are, help them, and help them when they need it.” The shared thinking beyond the Trump Cabinet is key to the administration's 100-day success.
“The movements and progress we made have still a lot to do, but I think Americans know from the president that we care about, and because they understand the severity of the era and mission we have, they know that there is no grass blade growing under our feet under our feet under the other cabinet members of this government,” he said.
Turner said Trump gathered “a very unique cabinet, a tremendous personality.” “Number one, they care about America, they care about the challenges they have. And I'm sure everyone on the cabinet carries and loves each other and we work very well.
He cited his work with the Department of the Interior and Secretary Doug Burgham to identify underutilized federal land to build affordable housing.
“We encouraged us to be on the right track, and the president did an incredible job bringing together teams like this,” Turner beamed.
Trump's leadership style makes it all possible.
“He's an encouragement. He's a great listener and he's a great encouragement,” he said. “He will give you the power to do the work and carry out the tasks he has appointed you.
Founding media often portrays this side of Trump and cannot distinguish true Trump from his persona apprentice.
“If you're doing something he doesn't agree with or something he thinks you can do better, he'll be there for you too,” Turner explained. “He says, 'Well, you might want to see it this way,'” “How can you do this differently?” or “How can you help with this?” And I think those are things you don't see in the media. ”
Despite the direction or misdirection from the previous administration, Turner owns the team needed at HUD to advance America's first agenda.
“One of the things I'm most proud of is the team and the core of the team we have. And I want America to know this. People who work at HUD have a heart for this country.
Turner certainly cares and he wants Americans to know that HUD works for their interests.
“Housing is not political, so all Americans are affected by HUD,” he said. “Housing affects all 350 million Americans in one way or another. Homelessness and poverty affect all Americans, either directly or indirectly. Disaster recovery affects all Americans.”
He said, “We take it seriously as a better steward than taxpayer dollars because we know how hard Americans work. And we are serious about helping Americans, helping them change the trajectory of their lives and fulfill the God-given possibilities.”
Bradley Jaye is the Associate Politics Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him X/Twitter and Instagram @Bradleyajaye
