Senate Confirms Marcia Fudge as HUD Secretary

The Senate voted 66-34 to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. With this confirmation, she has become the first Black woman to lead the agency in more than four decades. Patricia Harris was the first Black woman to serve in a presidential cabinet after President Jimmy Carter appointed her HUD secretary in 1977.

What you need to know. Secretary Fudge's priorities, as stated in her January confirmation hearing, include ending discriminatory housing practices and boosting Black homeownership.

What to expect. Secretary Fudge is expected to reinstate a 2013 disparate impact rule aimed at barring the housing industry from enacting policies that, although seemingly race-neutral, have an adverse discriminatory effect. The agency also is expected to reinstate and strengthen the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. This Obama-era rule required communities to identify and address barriers to racial integration and disparities in access to transportation, jobs, and good schools or risk losing federal funding.