The House Committee on Financial Services has convened a full committee hearing focused on oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
The session featured testimony from HUD Secretary Scott Turner and extensive questioning by committee members from both parties, as the discussion turned to policy disagreements over housing affordability, program administration, agency accountability, and federal housing priorities.
The hearing’s central purpose was to assess HUD’s performance across its broad portfolio of housing, mortgage, and assistance programs, and to scrutinize the FHA’s financial stability and regulatory framework. HUD oversees approximately 100 major housing and related initiatives, with a discretionary budget exceeding $89 billion in fiscal year 2025, the majority of which supports rental assistance, public housing, and homelessness programs.
Republican members, led by House Committee on Financial Services Chairman Rep. French Hill (R-AR), framed much of the oversight discussion around housing affordability and regulatory reform. They emphasized that supply constraints, zoning barriers, permitting delays, and outdated federal regulations have contributed to persistently high home prices and limited access to homeownership. Committee Republicans pressed Secretary Turner on efforts to reduce bureaucratic impediments and expand housing production, arguing that modernization of HUD programs and federal policy is essential to meeting current housing demand.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are fulfilling our mission of fostering strong communities by supporting access to quality, affordable housing, expanding the housing supply, and unlocking homeownership opportunities for the American people,” said Secretary Turner in his testimony. “And we’re doing that by empowering Americans and cutting red tape instead of intruding government power into every corner of Americans’ lives.”
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) highlighted issues related to fraud and misuse of housing assistance funds, citing Minnesota’s welfare fraud challenges and asserting that effective oversight is needed to protect taxpayer dollars. Rep. Emmer and others discussed legislative proposals aimed at strengthening housing affordability and fiscal accountability within HUD and the FHA.
“Vulnerable Americans benefit when we get them real treatment, and we’re making sure our efforts are helping American citizens,” said Secretary Turner. “We are reducing barriers facing homeless Americans that keep them from accessing evidence-based treatment and achieving successful, long-term recovery from drug addiction, to ultimately become productive citizens. We eliminated non-permanent resident eligibility for FHA-insured mortgages, and we are auditing public housing authorities to ensure taxpayer dollars don’t support illegal aliens. American dollars should benefit American citizens. By focusing on our core mission, HUD provided a pathway for homeownership and supported housing affordability for more than one million Americans through FHA and Ginnie Mae.”
In contrast, Democratic members, led by Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), issued a critique of HUD’s recent direction under Secretary Turner. Rep. Waters and her colleagues challenged HUD’s apparent weakening of civil rights enforcement, reduction of field offices, and proposed cuts to homeless assistance funding. Rep. Waters accused the administration of exacerbating rather than alleviating the national housing crisis, asserting that significant HUD expertise has been lost and that key programs lack sufficient urgency and effectiveness.
“Immediately after taking office, you halted fair housing and civil rights investigations, making discrimination in housing as acceptable as it was in the 1940’s,” said Rep. Waters. “Next, I’m really, really surprised, you shuttered regional and field offices, stripping families of the support they need to stay or get housed.”
Rep. Waters brought up the fact that more than 780 HUD employees have been terminated, including public servants whose expertise is essential to administering housing programs, enforcing civil rights laws, and preventing homelessness.
“As a matter of fact, it has been described to me that HUD is only a shadow of what it should be,” added Rep. Waters. “Let me be clear: forcing hundreds of public servants out the door does not make HUD more efficient. It makes the agency weaker — and does nothing to make housing affordable.”
Rep. Hill also questioned some of HUD’s actions in slashing staffers since the outset of President Trump’s second term as President.
“I want to turn to my home state of Arkansas for a moment and the deeply troubling situation that we've had for the past several years at the Little Rock Housing Authority. What's occurred there is truly baffling to me and, frankly, inconceivable,” recounted Rep. Hill. “Residents are now at risk of displacement through no fault of their own. They're paying the price for repeated failures by the housing authority itself, including not filling out required audits. They're engaging in reckless decision making that puts both residents and taxpayers at risk. And, I've written multiple letters expressing my dismay, including the request of the HUD Office of Inspector General to investigate the matter. And I have to tell you, Mr. Secretary, I've been disappointed in the city's oversight of the public housing agency, their board of directors, the local HUD office in Little Rock, the regional office in Dallas Fort Worth. And, if it's happening in Little Rock, I know it's happening across the country where taxpayers are not being dealt with fairly, but more importantly, our citizens dependent on a Section 8 voucher program to be in a safe, clean housing situation are finding disasters.”
Democrats also pressed the HUD Secretary about long-standing Departmental programs that have not undergone meaningful review, questioning whether current oversight mechanisms adequately evaluate their effectiveness and responsiveness. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) described HUD’s responsiveness to congressional oversight as “unfortunate, unacceptable and deeply disappointing,” and highlighted personal testimony regarding the experiences of vulnerable constituents reliant on federal housing assistance.
Secretary Turner defended HUD’s efforts to improve accountability and protect taxpayer funds, noting that the FHA’s mortgage insurance fund maintained a capital ratio above statutory minimums. Turner argued that modernization initiatives and targeted oversight reforms were underway, though he acknowledged persistent challenges in the broader housing market.
Lawmakers from both parties signaled that housing policy will remain a central issue for the committee in 2026, with follow-up oversight and legislative initiatives anticipated as part of the committee’s continuing agenda.
