Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass directly requested intervention from Marcia Fudge, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to expedite the process of getting the unhoused into permanent housing.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge convened a virtual roundtable discussion with over 90 mayors, state legislators, county commissioners, and local municipal leaders on the housing investments and racial equity opportunities that would be created through President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. The mayors and state and local elected leaders make up the executive teams and memberships of the National League of Cities- National Black Caucus for Local Elected Officials, National Organization of Black County Officials, African American Mayors Association, and National Black Conference of State Legislators.
The NAACP’s mission is that everyone receives the facts they need to make the best decisions for their families and communities while the fight against the pandemic goes forward, said NAACP president Derrick Johnson. Johnson appeared for a live interview with the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s morning news program, “Let It Be Known.”
“We applaud the confirmation of Rep. Fudge as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),” Marcela Howell, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, responded in a statement. “Her appointment comes at a pivotal time when her leadership is sorely needed. The U.S. faces a severe housing crisis as millions of residents struggle to pay their rent and mortgages due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Black Leaders and civil rights groups – including the NAACP and the Greenlining Institute — are hailing a memorandum President Joe Biden issued last week directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “take actions to undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of housing discrimination that afford access to long denied opportunities.”
“We are relieved knowing that the same determination Rep. Fudge brought to defending hungry families from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be brought to tackle one of the biggest looming threats facing Americans during this economic crisis: evictions and housing insecurity,” The CBC offered in a statement.