Angela Alsobrooks Presses HUD Nominee On Housing Discrimination Cases Terminated Under Trump Administration

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During a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) spoke about the Trump administration terminating housing discrimination cases at HUD.

Transcript

00:00Senator also Brooks. Thank you so much to Chair Scott, Ranking Member Warren. Thank you so much

00:07for holding today's hearing. To each of you, congratulations and thank you for being here

00:12today. I have questions for Mr. DeMarzo and then Mr. Traynor. Three questions I'm going to try to

00:18get through pretty quickly. Mr. DeMarzo, you will manage the relationship between HUD and Congress

00:25and this is a relationship that I would say has already been damaged because this administration

00:30lacks transparency and responsiveness. For example, in February, Ranking Member Warren,

00:36myself, Senator Smith, all sent a letter to HUD asking for details on the $260 million

00:43worth of contracts that Doge called wasteful. Nearly four months later, we received a half-page

00:50response that ignored all of our questions. We still don't know which contracts HUD intends to

00:56cancel and why and these contracts are important because they are with entities that could expand,

01:01for example, housing supply, provide rental assistance and prevent homelessness and fight

01:07housing discriminations and four months later, we still don't know which important services the

01:12Trump administration wants to eliminate. Secretary Turner's team could not answer the questions as

01:17well and so I'm hoping you can help us. I'm going to restate the exact question that Ranking Member

01:22Warren, Senator Smith, and I sent in our February 20th letter which simply says, what are the specific

01:27components of the $260 million in contracts that Secretary Turner called wasteful during his February 11th,

01:362025 media appearance and which contracts has HUD canceled? So I want to ask you that question.

01:43Well, thank you, Senator. And yes, if confirmed, I promise to work with our program offices to look

01:51into that. As you know, there's no leadership in the office right now because I haven't been confirmed.

01:56So we need confirmed leaders is what we're working on today with Mr. Trainor's confirmation also so we

02:02can process those requests, get you the information that you need. Okay, thank you because we do need

02:07those answers right away. In the same vein, there are homeless youth providers in my state, Maryland,

02:14that are still waiting for their HUD contracts to be finalized and honored. These delays, some of which

02:20are from 2024, are at serious risk of forcing excellent organizations to stop providing critical

02:27services in our community and I think we should all be proud of the tremendous work that they have done.

02:32I'm also proud to partner with my colleague Senator Katie Britt on legislation that would support

02:38homeless organizations by aligning the federal definitions of homelessness, streamlining services

02:44and leveraging resources. And so I'm so frustrated that these organizations in my state and across

02:50the country cannot access their funding. And this is months after HUD has awarded the contracts and so

02:55little information has been provided. Will you also work to make sure that we can, you know, we want to

03:01know the status of the HUD contracts, particularly youth homelessness demonstration program contracts,

03:07which are preventing us from ending youth homelessness. So I just want to ask whether you will work with us

03:12to get the information that we need quickly in any specific situation that these situations can be resolved.

03:20Well, thank you, Senator. The Secretary testified yesterday to Senate Appropriations. Youth homelessness,

03:25foster youth, helping and supporting them. It's one of his top priorities for the department.

03:30So absolutely, we'll work with your office and Senator Britt's office. If confirmed, I'll work with

03:35the program office leadership to look into that and help you with that issue. Thank you so much.

03:40Mr. Traynor, the Fair Housing Act is one of the enduring legacies of the civil rights movement.

03:45And recent investigations by HUD have led to millions of dollars in relief for victims of fraud and bad

03:52practices from landlords and mortgage lenders. The office that you've been nominated to lead has been an

03:58effective partner and putting money back in the hands of American consumers. Yet more than 115

04:06fair housing cases have been halted or closed since President Trump entered office. The president has

04:11proposed slashing your budget by two thirds. And reports suggest that a third of your future employees

04:17could be eliminated. So I, Mr. Traynor, know you don't control the budget, but want to know whether you do

04:22have the power, however, to at least provide a thoughtful answer to constituents on this committee

04:28as to why 115 cases have been terminated. So wonder whether you will commit to providing information

04:34to this committee and to the affected parties about the 115 pending housing discrimination cases that have

04:42been terminated or halted by President Trump. Senator, thank you for that question. As my hopefully soon to be

04:50colleague, Mr. DeMarzo indicated, I would have to be confirmed in the building, but I am happy to look

04:56at this inquiry that you and your colleagues have and hopefully be responsive to you sooner rather than

05:02later. Okay, good. So you will provide responses about about the 115 cases to this committee? I will, I will

05:10review the requests that you have, Senator, and work with the processes at HUD and hope to get you a response.

05:16No, not hope to get me a response. I'm asking whether you'll get this committee a response, the

05:21Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. As I indicated, Senator, I will look at this, I will

05:28and work through HUD processes and we'll try to be as responsible as possible, responsive as possible.

05:33Sure.

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