Marcia L. Fudge first black women to lead HUD in four decades

Rep. Marcia L. Fudge was confirmed as the US Secretary of housing and urban development on Wednesday. Fudge is the first black woman approved to lead HUD since 1977. 

Voted 66-34 in favour, Fudge was President Joe Biden’s nomination. She entered Congress in 2008.

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During her confirmation hearing in January, she said that her focus will be on boosting Black homeownership, and furthering President Biden’s ideals of systematic racial injustice by putting an end to discriminatory house practices. 

Under the Trump administration, key anti-discrimination housing policies had been rolled back. Under Ben Carson, fair housing enforcement and other civil rights protections were eviscerated.

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In his first executives orders, Biden signed orders pertaining to racial equity in attempts to strengthen the anti-discrimination housing policies in January, reported Washington Post. 

As the HUD secretary, Fudge will be expected to reinstate a 2013 rule which bars the housing industry from enforcing any policies which on the surface appear race-neutral but adversely affect Latino and Black Americans.

In addition to this, HUD is also expected to reinstate an Obama-era regulation that requires communities to recognize and address disparities in access to jobs, good schools, transportation, risk of losing federal funding and barriers to racial integration. 

Rep. Marcia will be giving immediate attention to jobless Black and Latino Americans who have disproportionately been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As per census data, more than 11 million homes are running behind on paying rent and approximately three million house owners are in forbearance with 800,000 delinquent borrowers. 

She will focus on providing rental assistance to homes which face a risk of eviction. Many households struggling to pay rent are still being served eviction notices despite the government’s extension of the eviction moratorium.

Sen. Rob Portman said during Fudge’s confirmation, “I don’t always agree with Marcia on policy, she doesn’t always agree with me. But I can speak to her integrity, her commitment to justice and [the] strength of her character.”