HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to resign, says affordable housing is 'an American issue'

WASHINGTON ‒ Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will step down from her top post in the Biden administration this month, she announced Monday, saying that after decades of public service, she’s retiring and returning to Ohio.

“It's time to go home,’’ Fudge told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.”

Fudge has served as a Cabinet secretary for three years, steering the federal agency through housing crises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the second Black woman to head the agency.

Fudge, 71, said after nearly five decades in public service, including more than a decade in Congress, she’s retiring from public life.

Fudge’s last day is March 22. Her resignation comes as the campaign season heats up and President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, is expected to face off again against Republican former President Donald Trump.

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Fudge said affordable housing should be a focus for both Republicans and Democrats.

‘‘It is not a red or blue issue,’’ she said. “Everybody knows that it is an issue so it’s not a one-sided issue. It’s an American issue.’’

Fudge said under her tenure at the agency she worked to improve its role in supporting families with housing needs, helping people experiencing homelessness and boosting economic development in communities.

Biden agreed in a statement announcing her resignation.

"Over the past three years she has been a strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters," the statement read. "Thanks to Secretary Fudge, we’ve helped first-time homebuyers, and we are working to cut the cost of renting. And there are more housing units under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years."

Fudge worries there’s not enough funding for all the work still needed, including building more affordable housing and repairing aging public housing developments.

She wished the agency had gotten more than $3 billion to improve public housing and multi-family housing. The need is more than $70 billion, she said.

Fudge had hoped Congress would approve permanent funding to help communities soon after disasters, like hurricanes. HUD often helps with long-term recovery efforts.

“We’re making incremental changes, but we need to make bigger changes and we need to make them faster,’’ she said. “We’re doing everything we can with the resources we’ve got."

Fudge vows not to run again

“Don’t look for me to ever be on another ballot or another appointee or anything like that,’’ she said. “I really do look forward to being a private citizen.”

Fudge is among only a few high-profile members of Biden’s Cabinet to step down.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh left early last year to head the union representing players in the National Hockey League. Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which was elevated to a Cabinet post, resigned in 2022 after complaints about his treatment of staffers.

Biden’s Cabinet has “experienced record-level stability” compared to the six most recent administrations, according to The Brookings Institution, a think tank.

‘’When you’re in these kinds of roles you go out when you’re on top and I believe that’s where we are,’’ Fudge said. “We’ve turned an organization around that nobody talked about before, nobody had any faith or confidence in before.’’

'These are my people'

Fudge has traveled the country visiting urban and rural communities and housing developments, often pressing the case for public and private partnerships to build more affordable housing. She also used her platform to call more attention to the needs of unhoused people.

“The people HUD serves are those who are often left out and left behind,'' Fudge said in a statement Monday announcing her resignation. ''These are my people. They serve as my motivation for everything we have been able to accomplish.’’

California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said Fudge has long championed efforts to address homelessness, noting she pushed to include funds in the 2021 American Rescue Plan.

Fudge visited Los Angeles County in California several times to call attention to the homeless problem there and testified before Congress about issues such as disparities in home appraisals, Waters said.

“I think that’s her legacy," Waters said.

HUD touts several accomplishments under Fudge’s leadership, including awarding 120,000 new vouchers to help people experiencing homelessness move into temporary housing, which is the largest in more than 20 years.

Fudge said she’s most proud of finally closing the “Road Home’’ program in Louisiana, 17 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated Gulf Coast communities. The program, which was supposed to help families rebuild homes, has been criticized for using a funding formula advocates called discriminatory. Fudge said more than 3,000 homeowners had liens on their homes from debt after the hurricane.

“They have lived with this for 17 years and nobody cared enough to do anything about it,’’ she said.

Fudge said she’s also proud the agency has for the first time spent more than 20% of its procurement funds with Black and brown business owners and owners of small disadvantaged businesses.

HUD also spent more than $30 million to help house young people transitioning out of foster care.

Fudge said a major focus has been helping people who don’t have a place to live, many of whom are Black people. Last month HUD gave $3 billion to local nonprofit groups to help, she said.

“When you live in the richest country in the world, nobody should sleep on a bench or on the street or under a bridge,'' she said. "It’s just a tragedy.’’

Fudge returning home to Ohio

Fudge said her decision to resign was mostly personal. Her mother, Marian Garth Saffold, whom she is close to, is turning 93 in April. Fudge wanted to spend more time with her and other relatives in Ohio.

Fudge, a Democrat and a former national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, one of the nation's largest Black sororities, has a long history in Ohio. She was the first woman and first Black person elected mayor of Warrensville Heights.

She was later elected to the U.S. House and served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. In 2019, she chaired the House elections subcommittee, holding hearings on voting rights across the country.

Fudge said she never intended to stay in Washington. She voted in Ohio and has a home there. But the opportunity to head HUD felt right.

'This is where God wanted me to be'

Despite threats of massive evictions after the pandemic and agency budget cuts, Fudge took on the job as HUD secretary in 2021. ‘‘I believe that this is where God wanted me to be and I was obligated and honored to go,” she said.

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., initially pushed for Fudge to be Agriculture Secretary, but said her experience as a lawyer and mayor also gave her credentials to lead HUD.

“She did an incredible job,’’ said Clyburn, noting that Fudge met several times with grassroots activists in his state. “I heard from people all the time about the visits she made and how she connected with the people who are affected by these decisions.”

Policy is one thing, said Clyburn, “people understanding, appreciating and supporting the policy is still another. That’s Marcia Fudge’s long suit.”

Fudge doesn’t know who will replace her, but said she has faith in her leadership team.

She said she will continue to support the Biden administration as a private citizen, but isn’t sure in what role. Whatever it is it will be from Ohio. She plans to leave Washington possibly as early as next month.

“There just comes a time,’’ she said ‘‘and you know when that time is.’’