The nation’s top housing official urged people to recognize the housing crisis and help the less fortunate in the country.
At some point, people will have to ask “What kind of nation do we want to live in, and is housing something that we believe that everybody should have?” said Marcia Fudge, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as she delivered Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ annual John T. Dunlop Lecture.
Fudge cited how the median home price in San Francisco is over $1 million and $800,000 in Boulder, Colorado.
“I can go on and on, and then we wonder why people are sleeping on the street,” she said. “We wonder why people are saying they can’t get workers. I hear that all the time. Let me just say this to you: If it costs me $800,000 to live in your community and you have no public transportation, I can’t get to work. I can’t get there.”
It makes sense to look at how communities and cities are developed, including making sure people have access to transportation, according to Fudge, who served more than a decade in Congress and two terms as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio.
“At some point, we need to determine if this is going to be one America or two. One Black. One white. One rich. One poor,” she said. “It’s up to us to make the difference.”
Fudge, who became HUD secretary last year, outlined the nation’s housing crisis.
She cited how there are 580,000 individuals who are homeless each night, another 18 million Americans spending more than half of their incomes on rent or mortgage, and the homeownership gap between white and Black families is wider today than it was in 1968 when the Fair Housing Act was passed.
She also pointed out that in 1968 the HUD budget was roughly 7% of the overall federal budget compared with just 1% today.
“We know that a budget is a clear indication of what you think is important,” Fudge said. “We need to commit the resources to assist builders and developers and mayors and governors to take the stress off the market. We need to upgrade public housing so that people can live in a decent place. We need to help with zoning so that we can build the kind of housing that our future requires. We need to look at lot sizes. How much grass do you need? Really. It’s just more to cut.”
HUD and the building community have been exploring potential solutions, including factory-built housing, which can reduce costs by about 20%, but there may a reduction in jobs, according to Fudge.
As she neared the close of her address, she called on people to think about what they can do.
“I’m very much proud of the work I do. I care a great deal about the people I serve. It is my life’s work,” she said. “I know all of you aren’t going to be in that same position, but I would suggest to you that at some point in your life you take the time to do something for somebody who is less fortunate than you. That is who we are as a nation, or at least that is what we should be.”
