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Senator Endorses Scott Turner for HUD, Cites Rising Homelessness and Housing Costs
Summary
An unnamed senator on the Senate floor praised Scott Turner’s background and urged new leadership at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, attributing increased homelessness and higher housing costs to current federal policy and regulations.
An unnamed senator on the Senate floor delivered a speech endorsing Scott Turner and called for new leadership at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), saying the department has failed to serve “our nation's most vulnerable.”
The senator said, “We are facing a homelessness crisis in America,” and cited what he described as an 18% year-over-year increase in homelessness that has raised the total to “nearly 772,000 Americans not able to find a place to lay their head.” He also said mortgage rates had “ballooned 50%” and rents had risen “20%” during President Biden’s tenure, and blamed “far left housing policies and burdensome regulations” for placing homeownership out of reach for many.
The senator identified Scott Turner as the person he believes can address those problems, citing Turner’s biography and public-sector experience. “Scott Turner has a remarkable life story,” the senator said, noting Turner is “a native Texan,” played nine seasons in the NFL and served two terms in the Texas Legislature. The senator also said Turner worked in the Trump administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council and helped implement the Opportunity Zones initiative, which the senator said channeled “over $50,000,000,000 in private sector capital into hard hit, typically, majority minority communities.”
The senator attributed to Turner a commitment to make “access to quality, affordable housing” a top priority and to work to “reverse decades of failed housing policies” across the U.S. housing market. “As HUD secretary, Scott will make himself known,” the senator said.
All numerical figures and policy judgments above are claims made by the senator during the floor remarks and are reported here as his statements. The senator concluded by saying he was “very thankful that Scott Turner is the secretary of housing and urban development,” and then yielded the balance of his time.
