The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development leads HUD, a cabinet department, and serves as the President’s chief advisor on federal housing and community development. The job covers a wide portfolio: setting housing policy, running FHA mortgage insurance and Ginnie Mae, administering rental assistance for millions of low-income households, enforcing fair housing laws, funding community development grants, and coordinating the federal response to homelessness.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3532 – Establishment of Department
Advising the President and Setting Housing Policy
The statute that created the department gives the Secretary a broad advisory mandate. The Secretary recommends policies for orderly urban growth, coordinates federal activities that affect housing and community development, provides technical assistance to state and local governments working on community problems, and conducts ongoing studies of housing needs.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3532 – Establishment of Department
That coordination role reaches outside HUD. When programs at other federal agencies touch housing, the Secretary is the person responsible for keeping those efforts aligned. The statute also directs the Secretary to work with governors and local officials, and to encourage private enterprise to meet as much of the nation’s housing need as possible.
Overseeing FHA Mortgage Insurance and Ginnie Mae
Two of the federal government’s largest housing finance operations sit under the Secretary’s direct legal authority.
Federal Housing Administration
The FHA insures mortgages for borrowers who might not qualify for conventional loans, which reduces the risk lenders take on. Federal law vests all FHA powers in the Secretary, who can establish agencies, appoint staff, and delegate authority as needed to run the mortgage insurance programs.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1702 – Administrative Provisions The Secretary is therefore accountable for the financial health of a program that backs hundreds of billions of dollars in home loans.
Government National Mortgage Association
Ginnie Mae guarantees mortgage-backed securities tied to federally insured loans, which keeps capital flowing into the housing market. The statute is unusually direct about who is in charge: all Ginnie Mae powers and duties are “vested in the Secretary,” the association operates “under the direction of the Secretary,” and the Secretary sets its general policies and can adopt and amend its bylaws.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1723 – Management Day-to-day operations run through Ginnie Mae’s own President, but the legal authority traces back to the Secretary.
Administering Rental Assistance and Housing Counseling
The Secretary oversees the largest federal rental assistance programs, which serve low-income families, older adults, and people with disabilities.
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, authorized under 42 U.S.C. ยง 1437f, lets eligible families rent on the private market while the government covers part of the rent. The Secretary channels the assistance through local public housing agencies, which administer the vouchers directly. Families generally must be very low-income when they first receive help.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1437f – Low-Income Housing Assistance
Traditional public housing also falls under the Secretary, along with newer initiatives such as the Rental Assistance Demonstration, which lets public housing agencies convert properties to long-term Section 8 contracts and use the change to attract private capital for renovations.
The Secretary also funds a nationwide housing counseling program. Federal law authorizes funding for HUD-approved counseling agencies that help tenants and homeowners with financial management, property upkeep, and foreclosure avoidance, and directs the Secretary to reach rural areas that have had limited access to those services.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701x – Assistance With Respect to Housing
Funding Community Development and Tribal Housing
The Secretary administers the block grant programs that send federal money to state, local, and tribal governments for housing and neighborhood investment.
The Community Development Block Grant program gives states and localities flexible funding for housing rehabilitation, infrastructure, and economic development. At least 70 percent of CDBG funds must benefit low- and moderate-income people, and the program’s statutory goals include eliminating blight, expanding the housing stock, and revitalizing communities losing population or tax base.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 5301 – Congressional Findings and Declaration of Purpose
After major disasters, the Secretary runs a disaster recovery version of CDBG. When Congress appropriates supplemental funds, the Secretary identifies the hardest-hit areas, allocates the money, and publishes the allocations in the Federal Register. The Secretary can waive or modify most program rules for disaster recovery grants, except fair housing, labor, and environmental protections.7Federal Register. Allocations for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Implementation of the CDBG-DR Consolidated Waivers and Alternative Requirements Notice
Under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, the Secretary makes annual block grants to Indian tribes for affordable housing activities such as construction, rehabilitation, and housing services. Tribes submit housing plans and largely decide how to use the funds, reflecting the Act’s emphasis on tribal sovereignty. The Secretary may waive the plan requirement for up to 90 days when a tribe faces circumstances beyond its control.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 USC Ch. 43 – Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination
Enforcing the Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act places responsibility for the nation’s fair housing protections on the Secretary. The statute prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC Ch. 45 – Fair Housing
The Secretary investigates complaints, studies discriminatory practices, and publishes an annual report to Congress on progress and remaining obstacles. Federal law also requires every federal agency to run its housing-related programs in a way that affirmatively furthers fair housing, and the Secretary coordinates that government-wide obligation.10GovInfo. 42 USC 3608 – Administration Investigation and conciliation duties can be delegated to HUD employees or panels, including the authority to hear cases and issue orders. When an administrative law judge finds a violation, tiered civil penalties apply, with the maximum rising for repeat violators; the amounts are adjusted for inflation.11Federal Register. Adjustment of Civil Monetary Penalty Amounts for 2025
Coordinating the Response to Homelessness
The Secretary oversees HUD’s homelessness programs, the largest of which is the Continuum of Care program authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Continuum of Care funds nonprofit providers, states, and local governments to rehouse people experiencing homelessness, connect them to mainstream services, and work toward ending homelessness in their communities.12eCFR. 24 CFR Part 578 – Continuum of Care Program
The Secretary also sits on the 19-member U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates the federal response across departments including Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services. The Council rotates its chair among members annually, so the Secretary participates as one of several agency heads rather than as permanent leader.13GovInfo. 42 USC Ch. 119 – Homeless Assistance
Running the Department
The Secretary has broad authority over HUD’s internal operations. Federal law allows the Secretary to hire and set compensation for staff, delegate any function to subordinates, authorize further redelegation, and issue the rules and regulations needed to carry out the department’s work.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3535 – Administrative Provisions The Secretary can also contract with private companies for management support of FHA operations.
The scale of what the Secretary manages is substantial. The fiscal year 2026 budget request totals roughly $42.8 billion in budget authority, split between about $33.2 billion discretionary and $9.6 billion mandatory, with rental assistance dominating the discretionary side and FHA insurance running largely off-budget through premium revenue.15Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2026 Congressional Justifications – Departmental Summary
How the Secretary Is Appointed and Where the Job Sits in Succession
The President nominates the Secretary, and the Senate must confirm the appointment. Once confirmed, the Secretary supervises and directs the entire department.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 3532 – Establishment of Department Scott Turner was confirmed on February 5, 2025, becoming the 19th person to hold the post.16HUD.gov. Scott Turner Confirmed as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary is 11th in the presidential line of succession, after the Secretary of Health and Human Services and before the Secretary of Transportation, following the sequence in which cabinet departments were created.17USAGov. Order of Presidential Succession