The Biden administration’s top housing official is leaving her post.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Marcia Fudge announced in a Monday email to staff that, “with mixed emotions,” she plans to resign as Secretary effective March 22, Politico reported.
In her email to staff, Fudge said that leading the agency “was the ideal opportunity to culminate a career focused on doing the most good for the most people, including those who have often been left behind or left out.”
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Fudge told USA Today in an interview that she plans to retire altogether from public service, saying, “it’s time to go home.” She said she felt she had “done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.”
Expanding homeownership opportunities and reducing barriers for Black homeowners was one of the agency’s top priorities under Fudge. Approximately 250,000 Black Americans have bought a home with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage since 2021, the agency said in February.
Fudge represented Cleveland in the House of Representatives for over a decade and led the influential Congressional Black Caucus for a term before President Joe Biden appointed her as HUD secretary in 2021.
In a statement, Biden called Fudge a “strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters.”
Fudge is only the second Biden cabinet secretary to leave her position, along with former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting secretary, the White House said.
