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With that, let me introduce our moderator for this discussion, Rosanna Marquez.
So let’s welcome Rosanna and Secretary Fudge.
Rosanna Marquez:Thank you, Rodney.
Good afternoon, everyone.
And welcome Secretary Fudge.
Secretary Marcia L. Fudge is the 18th Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Secretary Fudge:Thank you for having me.
Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.
Rosanna Marquez:Yeah, so let’s get into it.
Secretary Fudge:Okay.
I very much appreciate it.
Rosanna Marquez:Thank you, thank you.
Can you share with us your vision for creating more affordable housing for all?
And so we are looking at a myriad of things, of course.
We’re looking at how our zoning affects where we build new housing.
Maybe more manufactured housing, maybe more accessory dwelling units, maybe more intergenerational housing kinds of institutions.
There’s no one solution to this problem.
But we have, as well in our budget, looked at how we can deal with housing supply.
So we are requesting more home dollars which are fairly easy to use to build new housing.
We’re looking at more CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] resources because of the flexibility.
Rosanna Marquez:All very good.
So to focus on older adults, many of them depend on a fixed income.
We know that one of the fastest growing groups of homeless people in this country are elderly Black women.
Let’s look at how we can really address the issue of aging in place.
What happens to them in the sunset of their lives?
So it is a major problem, so we’re looking at things like accessory dwelling units.
And we are looking at communities.
Let’s say it’s grab bars around your tub.
Maybe it’s new appliances, a way to get around your kitchen.
Maybe it is just some assistance with your lighting, your plumbing, your electrical.
Those are things that HUD is doing now to attempt to be helpful, but there’s not enough.
We just need more resources to do our work.
And I don’t think it really relies solely with HUD.
I mean we can only do so much, but we don’t build housing.
We don’t set aside zoning rules, we don’t make land available in our communities.
That is what happens at the local and the state level.
So we have to be partners.
We have to work together.
It’s not just us or them, it’s us together.
Rosanna Marquez:Totally agree.
It will take all of us on this livability community workshop and more to make that all happen.
So thank you, Secretary Fudge.
Let’s give a chance to hear from our audience.
I’ll now turn it over to our emcee Mike Watson for some Q&A.
Mike Watson, AARP:Well thank you, Rosanna, and Secretary Fudge.
On that note, it’s now time to turn to your questions.
So remember, kindly use Slido to ask your questions.
Those numbers sometimes are as high as $400,000 in any given night.
In California, they’re doing things like building container villages.
We are looking at, as I said, tiny homes.
They can use those resources to assist with homelessness as well.
Mike Watson:Thank you, Secretary Fudge.
We all work in these individual little silos, nobody talk to anybody, right.
So we’re looking at how we can leverage the resources together.
We’re looking at things like climate.
That’s certainly been impactful from what we’ve seen.
Secretary Fudge:Let me, can I just say one more thing about that.
Mike Watson:Yes, of course.
Secretary Fudge:This is our best opportunity to make change.
We have the tools.
We need the will.
Forty-six billion dollars just in resources for eviction prevention.
We have the resources; we just need people to step up and show the will to do it.
Accordingly, we’ve seen a lot of questions here in the chat about different ways to encourage development.
As it FHFA [Federal Housing Finance Agency] which is over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
And so we know that these are part of the solution.
Secretary Fudge:I mentioned to you the older adult modification program.
That’s a total right now of $45 million.
So we are granting these resources to local, like Habitat.
And that may even be a voucher.
I don’t know if that’s an issue as well.
But we do have the wherewithal to get people to the right place.
Mike Watson:Very good.
And on that, I think, Secretary Fudge, you have a unique kind of view.
Secretary Fudge:Well there are three things I think that we need to do.
One is realize the fact that most communities have probably not looked at the zoning in 100 years.
But I want to tell you the biggest thing is to talk to your neighbors.
It’s normally not the city, it’s your neighbor.
Rentals have gone up to an average of at least $2,000 a month across the country.
There is nowhere where a person making minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment in this country.
But no matter what, talk to somebody about it.
I think it’s important to start the conversation.
I think local officials know it, community organizations know it.
With that, Secretary Fudge, we have time for one final question from our audience.
So we’re seeing a lot of questions here around Section 202 Housing and Affordable Housing.
We lost rural hospitals.
We lost rural housing, and we will building no senior housing.
Secretary Fudge:Thank you.
Mike Watson:And with that, as I mentioned, that was our last question.
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions.
Rosanna, I’m now going to kick it back to you for our closing with Secretary Fudge.
Rosanna Marquez:All right, thank you, Mike.
First, I want to thank all of you out there for all those excellent questions that you asked.
kindly, let me give you a chance to offer us all some closing remarks.
Secretary Fudge:Well, I will again say thank you for having me.
We will make a difference; we will make it better.
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