Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge is leaving the administration, effective March 22.
“It’s time to go home,” Fudge told USA Today. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.”
Fudge, a former House Democrat who represented the Cleveland area, is only the second Cabinet secretary under President Joe Biden to leave, a notable amount of stability. Former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh left in March of last year to become executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association. `
“I’m grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was elected in a special election in 2008 to replace the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, whom she had worked for previously as a congressional staffer. Fudge served until March 2021, when she was confirmed to the Cabinet. Prior to her time as a member of Congress, she was mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, and held several positions in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, including as director of its personal property tax department.
One of her higher-profile constituents thanked her for her service.
“As a proud daughter of Ohio, and my Congresswoman for twelve years, Marcia Fudge served Ohioans and families all around the country for decades. She understood that housing is at the center of people’s lives, and she led HUD through a critical period – responding to unprecedented housing challenges during the pandemic, reducing costs for first-time homebuyers, and fighting housing discrimination,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, Fudge oversaw the release of her department’s $72.6 billion fiscal 2025 budget request. The budget asks for a 0.7 percent increase from the amount HUD received in the fiscal 2024 appropriations package that Biden signed on Saturday.
“The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget will provide our agency with funding to support our mission to provide families with access to safe, affordable and quality housing options,” Fudge said in a statement. “Every day, HUD’s programs directly impact people’s lives through housing and other services. We will continue to support the Administration’s goal to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”
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