Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge to depart Biden administration

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge will depart the Biden administration later this month, the White House announced Monday, making her just the second Biden Cabinet official to leave their post.

Fudge will leave her role March 22 as the White House gears up for a reelection bid. The 71-year-old told USA Today she plans to retire from public life.

“When I took office, we inherited a broken housing system, with fair housing and civil rights protections badly dismantled under the prior administration,” President Biden said in a statement. “On Day One, Marcia got to work rebuilding the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and over the past three years she has been a strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters.”

Fudge was the second Black woman to lead HUD. Prior to joining Biden’s Cabinet, she served in Congress since 2008 and prior to that was mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

“From her time as a mayor, to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Marcia’s vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country,” Biden said Monday. “I’m grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter.”

Deputy HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting secretary upon Fudge’s departure, the White House said.

The Biden administration has put an emphasis on improving equity in terms of housing accessibility and has sought to lower costs for renters and homebuyers, even as increased interest rates have made it difficult for many Americans to afford a home.

HUD has also worked to address homelessness, disparities in the home appraisal process and the quality of public housing.

“Under her leadership, the agency has supported nearly a quarter of a million Black people in purchasing a home and has taken significant steps to root out racial bias in the home appraisal process,” the Congressional Black Caucus said of Fudge, a former chair of the caucus, in a statement. “She leaves her mark on the agency as a passionate leader and the first African American woman to lead the department in decades, and only the second in our nation’s history.”

Fudge joins former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh as the only Senate-confirmed Cabinet officials to have stepped down during Biden’s first term.