Up to the Challenge of HUD?

If you were to advise Mr. Preston, what should his top priorities be?
I have high hopes he'll roll up his sleeves and dig into the Katrina mess, given that he has knowledge from another agency perspective. We'd also like to see immediate attention to issues related to getting adequate funding for public housing agencies. What HUD has lacked for the past eight years is an agency secretary who is an advocate for the agency's programs and who cared that the programs they worked for served the American public. And what we're looking for in a secretary is someone who has that commitment.

Having 10 months to turn things around, what are the biggest challenges he's facing?
He's got a massive agency with huge morale problems. He has an aging workforce, many members of which are counting the days to retirement. And he has a Congress that's highly suspicious of the administration's motives around any of these things. Plus, a massive housing crisis.

You don't seem hopeful he'll perform well.
There's no miracle worker there. I certainly hope that his being in that position will be a benefit, but I don't know that will be the case. I know there was an effort when he was appointed to reach out to housing advocates, which is not something that Secretary Jackson could have dreamed of doing. That might be part of a White House spin process or a genuine effort on his part to say that he wants to start with good communication with the people who are critics of the agency. Communication goes a long way to being able to at least understand where everyone is coming from and what the differences might be.

With housing markets as they are, how important is the position of the Housing and Urban Development secretary?
To the large numbers of people who are paying more than they can afford for housing and are not able to acquire affordable housing, it's a very important position. It's been relegated to being a very minor position during the Bush administration and not given much importance. It's usually considered the agency that deals with poverty issues as opposed to all housing and urban issues.

Given that Preston will be replaced by a new appointee next January, what would you like to see in the person the new president selects?
The next president should hear that we want a serious secretary and someone who's committed to the cause of the agency. We also would like to see a federal czar around Gulf Coast recovery, because everyone knows the response was inadequate.

© 2008