Quigley Hammers HUD Secretary on Trump Cutting Housing by 50%

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) questioned the Trump administration’s Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner. During a budget hearing for the House Appropriations Committee, Quigley pressed Turner to explain how HUD’s resources can be cut by 50%, without increasing homelessness and driving up housing costs.

As a tenured member of the Appropriations Committee’s Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Subcommittee, Quigley has spent over a decade advocating for housing funding for programs in Chicago and localities across the country. These programs reduce homelessness and housing insecurity by helping vulnerable individuals like seniors, children, and people with HIV/AIDS.

Under Trump’s proposed budget, half of all HUD funding would be cut, and more than a dozen programs would be eliminated. 

“Mr. Secretary, you have to understand: housing is everything. These people will die. There’s no way you can believe a 50% cut won’t put people on the street,” said Quigley during the hearing. “What’s the detailed plan to ensure those people won’t be put on the street?”

Secretary Turner responded that his HUD would be “more effective and more efficient.” However, when pressed by Quigley for details on how he would prevent homelessness, the Secretary provided none.

Secretary Turner noted that he is a man of faith, to which Quigley replied “faith can’t put a house over peoples’ heads.” 

Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate the Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) and Continuum of Care programs, which provide housing to chronically homeless individuals. The budget also includes no funds for emergency vouchers, which provide housing to 2,000 families in Illinois fleeing domestic violence and human trafficking.  

To watch Quigley’s full cross-examination of Trump’s HUD Secretary, click here.

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