Chapter 15. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Key Points

• Non-citizens may not live in any federally assisted housing (including mixed status families)
• Time allowed for receiving housing benefits will be limited
• Married couples will be prioritized for housing
• Some responsibility for public housing will be moved to the private sector (via vouchers)

STC 2025 Commentary

The chapter on HUD presents a familiar conservative vision:

• Privatize wherever possible
• Transfer federal obligations to the states and radically cut down federal government oversight and obligations
• Limit eligibility for benefits and limit time they can be used
• Promulgate religious beliefs and insert them into government policies wherever possible
• Replace civil servants with political appointees who pursue the president’s will

Full Summary

Carson opens Chapter 15 with a proposed reorientation of the department’s mission: the problem with HUD, he states, is that it has promoted the concept of “bureaucratically provided housing as a basic life need and, whether intentionally or not, fail[s] to acknowledge that these public benefits too often have led to intergenerational poverty traps, have implicitly penalized family formation in traditional two-parent marriages, and have discouraged work and income growth, thereby limiting upward mobility.”

HUD’s work is thus related to that of other departments in its goals of promoting economic self-reliance and the importance of the two-parent family. To reflect these goals, HUD would need to be restructured: a cadre of political appointees would execute this plan, and a Chief Financial Officer would be hired from the business world (as was previously done) to reform spending.

The first goal of a proposed HUD review would be to reconsider HUD’s proper role in the housing market. More responsibility for housing matters should be shifted to the states and localities as well as other government agencies, eventually turning many of HUD’s current responsibilities over to them. On Day One of a Conservative presidency, an immediate sweeping reform and paring down of HUD’s mission would be enacted.

Carson identifies the obstacle as “the mission creep that inevitably occurs when Congress delegates power to an empowered and unelected bureaucracy that is insulated by civil service protections.”

If implemented, the proposed reforms he discusses can help a new conservative Administration to use its Article II powers to rectify bureaucratic overreach, reverse the expansion of programs beyond their statutory authority, and end progressive policies that have been put in place at the department.

Here, too, the replacement of civil service employees with political appointees is vital to HUD restructuring. The first goal of loyalist appointees would be to “identify and reverse all actions taken by the Biden Administration to advance progressive ideology,” including any climate change initiatives.

Certain principles would guide new policy:

• Federal housing should not be available for non-citizens (including mixed status families)
• Congress should enact legislation with eligibility requirements that “protect life” and;
  • Encourages upward mobility (work requirements)
  • Prioritizes two-parent families
  • Focuses on mental health and substance abuse issues rather than attempting to provide permanent solutions to homelessness
• The goal for long-term housing reform is to bring the private sector into the mix
  • For example, HUD’s mandate was originally to construct the nation’s affordable housing stock and promote “standards for decent housing and fair housing enforcement.” This second goal, says Carson, has been “muddled by repeated application of affirmative race-based policies”
• A voucher system should be considered to expand use of private landlords and allow states and localities to have more say in housing; this would encourage competition in the public housing market
• Congress should prioritize support for single-family homes, since home ownership is the “backbone of the American Dream”