Marcia Fudge

Marcia Fudge comes to the job of running the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after 13 years representing Ohio’s 11th congressional district. The post puts her in position to play a decisive role in affordable housing in the D.C. area.

Since taking office in March, Fudge has pledged to focus on providing more housing and funding for homeless Americans, who are expected to number more than 600,000 once the federal eviction moratorium ends June 30.

The American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March, provides $10 billion in affordable housing and services, 70,000 vouchers for families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and $45 billion in emergency rental assistance for low-income tenants at risk of eviction.

She also told NPR that she wants to fight anti-development sentiment in neighborhoods where people have tried to block low-income and supportive housing. “We have the resources to fund it, to get it started, but it is just getting people’s minds wrapped around the fact that, as Americans, we all need to help each other.”

President Joe Biden decided to give her the HUD job, despite her public push to become the first Black female secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last November, she lamented to Politico that Black politicians were usually relegated to running specific federal agencies, particularly HUD.

“As this country becomes more and more diverse, we’re going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in. You know, it’s always ‘we want to put the Black person in Labor or HUD,’” she told the publication.

Before her election to Congress in 2008, Fudge served eight years as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, and as chief of staff to former Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. When Tubbs Jones died in August 2008, local Democratic leaders selected Fudge as her replacement, ensuring that she would win in the November election. She ran unopposed.