Secretary Scott Turner said HUD has been very deliberate about the reforms it has undertaken during the Trump administration's first 100 days. (Getty Images/Fox News)
Part of restoring that "mission-minded focus," according to Turner, has been to tear down "burdensome regulations," such as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule established under the Obama administration and revived by the Biden administration.
"We took this rule down in order to restore flexibility and restore the power back to localities. Because every city, every community, is unique," Turner said, noting that under the now-rescinded rule, bureaucrats in Washington had the power to pick "winners and losers" in local communities.
Turner also highlighted a new partnership between HUD and the Department of Homeland Security, aimed at ensuring noncitizens do not take away much-needed HUD resources from American citizens.
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"We are ensuring that American people live in HUD-funded housing," Turner said. "Also with this partnership, it's a data collection emphasis to understand who's living in housing that's funded by HUD and our FHA insurance, our FHA-backed mortgages, which is also backed by American taxpayers. We took out the non-permanent residence category out of the FHA, which the Biden administration turned a blind eye to."
Scott Turner visited the Seminole Tribe of Florida, holding a listening session with tribal leaders to understand their unique housing challenges. (Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner)
"We don't want to grow the size of government," Turner added. "We want to shrink the size of government."
Turner also said the agency will focus on increasing public-private partnerships to help improve housing affordability and the homelessness epidemic, noting local entities on the ground doing the actual work to affect change are pivotal to HUD completing its mission.
When asked about any pushback Turner has received over his slew of policy changes during the Trump administration's first 100 days, the secretary said part of being a strong "servant leader" is to make hard decisions that everybody may not agree with.
"But, I consider them to be healthy decisions for our country," Turner said. "At the end of the day, our job is one, to be stewards over taxpayer dollars, but also to be stewards over the lives of Americans as it pertains to entering in HUD-funded facilities."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hud-secretary-scott-turner-lays-out-agency-wins-during-first-100-days-shares-priorities-next-100