The Senate voted 55-44 Wednesday to confirm the nomination of Scott Turner, a former professional football player, as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Turner takes over a roughly $68 billion agency that provides rental assistance, builds and preserves affordable housing, addresses homelessness and enforces the Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in housing. The department aids 4.3 million low-income families through public housing, rental subsidy and voucher programs. In Turner's hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee last month, he said he wants to fix broken policy areas, ween Americans off of government assistance and prioritize building more homes.
Scott Turner was confirmed Wednesday as the housing secretary, a role central to President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda at a time when most Americans say the cost of living around necessities are a top concern. The former NFL player, Texas state representative and White House senior aide was confirmed in a 55-44 vote. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is tasked with enforcing and coordinating federal housing law. The vast majority of HUD’s budget goes toward housing assistance for lower-income families, the elderly and disabled as well as community development and homelessness programs. The department will be at the forefront of issues ranging from rising housing costs to spurring economic development in struggling cities and lowering homelessness rates, especially among veterans.
The Senate confirmed Scott Turner, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of housing and urban development, on Wednesday. The former NFL quarterback who served in Trump’s first administration was confirmed in a bipartisan 55-44 vote. Turner ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term and is a former Texas state lawmaker. At his confirmation hearing to become the secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department, he blasted the agency regarding its recent report that acknowledged an 18.1% increase in homelessness in the United States in 2024. “HUD, if you will, is failing at its most basic mission,” Turner said. “And that has to come to an end.”
