In Newark, HUD Secretary Touts Biden Admin’s Plan to Expand Quality Housing, Homeownership

Tom Wiedmann

23 May, 2022

NEWARK, NJ — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge was pithy in her message to area officials during her visit to Newark on Monday to not let a windfall of federal dollars aimed to expand housing opportunities go by the wayside.

“The money’s there, but it’s not going to be there for a long time because Congress is already trying to claw back some of those resources,” Fudge told officials and community leaders during a roundtable discussion hosted at the Donald M. Payne Sr. School Of Technology in Newark. “We have more resources available to us today than we have received over the last few years that we’ll never have again. If you do not take advantage of it today, you will lose it.”

Fudge’s visit to Brick City came on the heels of the Biden administration’s recently introduced Housing Supply Action Plan, an effort aimed to relieve the burden of increasing housing costs, boost quality housing supply and spur homeownership. Joining the HUD Secretary for the roundtable were several politicos and Newark officials, including Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, a Newark native, Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark), Assemblyman William Payne (D-Newark), Deputy Mayor and Director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development Allison Ladd, and Richard Cammarieri, chair of the Newark Community Development Network and a member of the city’s Equitable Growth Advisory Commission.

"We need to stop the housing practices that result in racially segregated neighborhoods and unequal access to housing opportunities for American minorities," Payne Jr. said.

Part of the discussion centered around implementing policies and legislation to help cities like Newark address its affordable housing stock shortage as well as taking preventive measures against upticks in institutional buyers snatching up homes to seek passive returns from rents while influencing local housing markets to benefit their investors.

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In Newark, HUD Secretary Touts Biden Admin’s Plan to Expand Quality Housing, Homeownership