In a seemingly trivial but truly troubling turn of events, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has placed and then tried to cancel an order for a $31,000 dining room set for his office. One of the reasons this is troubling is that the purchase came out of the HUD budget, a budget which is lined up to be slashed in Trump’s 2019 fiscal year budget request. Another reason is that this isn’t the first time that HUD has not been taken seriously by an administration. Ever since Reagan wiped out HUD’s budget for new affordable housing construction in the early 1980s, the crucial department has not been given the attention it deserves, and this has been to the detriment of affordable housing and urban development across the country.
Like Trump’s proposed cuts, Reagan’s decrease in HUD affordable housing construction came during overall budget cuts in 1983, but set a precedent for future administrations to consistently place HUD low on the list of priorities. The three presidents that followed Reagan all continued to decrease HUD’s funding, and by 2000, it had been cut almost 60 percent. This marked a significant decline in the number of affordable housing units constructed per year, and that shortage continues today. Current predictions from the National Low Income Housing Coalition reveal affordable housing shortages in every state.
Carson is not alone in causing HUD scandals either. Reagan famously did not recognize his own HUD secretary at a White House event, a corruption scandal plagued the same department and George W. Bush’s HUD secretary stepped down amid corruption allegations. Spending tons of money on a hardwood hutch may not be as severe as past problems, but it represents the same failure to actually serve the purpose of the department. Affordable housing shortages, homelessness and long wait lists for public housing are major concerns in U.S. cities, and the federal government has a role in addressing these.
Access to affordable housing is essential for cities to grow successfully and for their residents to thrive. We have felt the need for affordable housing in a major way in Denver, and HUD takes part in providing assistance—one of the largest impacts is through the money HUD gives annually to Colorado organizations focused on housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. For those struggling with housing insecurity, for larger communities and for cities overall, HUD is an influential federal department. The role it plays in improving lives of people living in urban areas should not be discounted or overlooked, and its leader should certainly not be continuing the trend of allowing silly scandals to overshadow its real responsibilities.
The entertaining dining room set controversy will pass, but even after we stop hearing about the office makeover, the threat of a slashed HUD budget will still be real. The budget proposal aims to take about $8 billion from HUD this fiscal year and would also eliminate several key grant and community development programs. These actions go in the exact opposite direction from what American cities and their residents need. HUD budget cuts and administrative scandals are eerily familiar by now, and they must end. Strong leadership, adequate funding and understanding of the potential of HUD are what will allow the Trump administration to better meet the pressing needs of people in cities across the nation.
