INTERVIEW: From dishwasher to HUD Secretary: Scott Turner details his plan to “attack” the housing crisis and more
The Lowdown:
Secretary Scott Turner took the helm of HUD with bipartisan support and is making regulatory reform to address America’s affordable housing crisis one of his top priorities;
Turner, a local of Richardson, Texas, associate Baptist pastor, and NFL veteran of nine seasons, is also making the expansion of Opportunity Zones a top priority;
Turner also started a DOGE task force within HUD to analyze department programs to ensure they are helping to carry out the department’s mission;
Turner, a former JPI executive, believes his “private sector business experience has well prepared [him] for this stewardship role here at HUD as it pertains to building affordable housing.”
When one travels North on the Central Expressway from downtown Dallas, the scenery rapidly shifts from a rampantly growing concrete jungle to an idyllic suburbia reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire. From the gilded mansions of Highland Park to the growing golf Antioch of Frisco, these suburbs have seen billionaire financial gurus make their homes next to the humblest of pastors — some of whom know how to throw down on the gridiron at the highest levels.
Today’s story takes us to one such suburb: the Telecom Corridor of Richardson, Texas.
Hailing from this technology town is none other than President Donald Trump’s newly-minted Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Scott Turner. Turner, who served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during the first Trump administration, hopped on the phone with the Washington Reporter to discuss his priorities as America’s 19th HUD Secretary and how he will approach the job.
“I’m very humbled to be the servant leader at HUD,” Turner said on Friday. “And some topline priorities that we have here, number one is to attack the regulatory reform because we have a housing affordability crisis in our country. And a big part of that is regulatory. Cumbersome and burdensome bureaucracy as it pertains to regulations, which makes it harder to build our housing supply.”
“We need about 7 million units of housing of all kinds in our country, be it single-family, multi-family, condominiums, manufactured homes,” he continued. “And, when you think about HUD and just the purview and the reach that we have, we serve various communities: rural, tribal, and urban. And inside of all these communities that we serve, there is a housing supply shortage. So regulatory reform is a big part, both on the federal level and on the local level.”
Turner said the next priority is expanding Opportunity Zones, a policy championed by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) during the first Trump administration that saw economic revivals in underserved communities across the country.
“And they were very impactful as a policy initiative in our country as it pertains to helping people get out of poverty by way of new housing, by way of new operating businesses,” Turner said. “And that was layered and ran out of HUD under the leadership and chairmanship of Dr. Ben Carson.”
“So the expansion of Opportunity Zones is going to be crucial in this second term, and so working with Congress and the appropriate parties to do so…will be a priority,” he added. Turner noted HUD serves “the most vulnerable” Americans and that he aims to “take inventory” of all of the department’s programs to “make sure we’re being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars.”
“We want to make sure that the programs that we have at HUD are actually helping us to carry out that mission,” Turner said, also touching on HUD’s newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force.
Turner said the expansion of Opportunity Zones is “a coordinated effort” between Congress and the administration and highlighted the good work the zones have accomplished so far, such as raising home values in the areas “by a little more than three percent with no observable increase in rent.”
And, of anyone who could take the reins of HUD after the disastrous Biden administration, Turner is a prime choice. His qualifications saw his confirmation receive bipartisan support while going through the Senate. Growing up in Richardson, Turner is very much a local. A fourth-generation Texan and veteran NFL cornerback of nine seasons and 101 games, Turner played football and ran track for J.J. Pearce High School while working as a dishwasher for the legendary Spring Creek Barbecue in town.
He took a full ride to the University of Illinois to play football and earned his degree before being drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1995. After making a special election run for the U.S. House in California in 2006, Turner returned to God’s country where he served in the Texas House of Representatives for two terms before becoming a housing development executive at development and construction company JPI, where he served as Chief Visionary Officer.
Turner also founded and led the Community Engagement & Opportunity Council (CEOC), a faith-based nonprofit in Dallas through its mission “to revitalize communities through sports, mentorship, and economic opportunity.”
“Housing growth was accelerated inside of Opportunity Zones. Just in the two years we were here, there was $50 billion in private investments in Opportunity Zones and, here today, there’s a little over $80 billion invested in the Opportunity Zones,” Turner said. “And, so, we want to continue on that momentum and continue on that track record. And that’s going to be a priority, not for just myself, but I believe many in our administration, from Congress to the Treasury to private individuals.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Turner said of expanding Opportunity Zones. “But it is going to be a concerted effort and I believe that it’ll happen.”
Turner said his experience as a housing market executive gave him “the opportunity to see how you attack the home affordability crisis that we’re having.”
“We do need to get our fiscal house in order here in America, and I know under President Trump’s leadership, that is a top priority for him and this administration,” Turner said. “To bring interest rates down, to bring inflation down, to bring supply up, to create more jobs, to create more business here in America.”
“So I understand what it means to face burdensome regulations,” Turner added. “I understand what it means to source land and to bring public-private partnerships together. I understand what it means to work with local municipalities and local elected officials and economic development corporations. I understand what it means to build and create a capital… investment and create opportunities to build homes, and the difficulty that comes with that and the work that’s then put in.”
“So I think that having that private sector business experience has well prepared me for this stewardship role here at HUD as it pertains to building affordable housing,” Turner added.
On the subject of illegal immigrant gangs taking over apartment complexes in America under Joe Biden, Turner, who served as an associate pastor at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, told the Reporter that the federal government needs “to take care of the American people” and to ensure the bill for both people coming to America illegally and those illegal immigrants “committing crimes and causing violence in our communities across our country” is not footed by the taxpayer.
“And, so, working with DHS and working with our other agencies to ensure that we are upholding this responsibility is an utmost priority,” Turner said. “And I believe we took the oath of this office, that is something we have to be very intentional about: is protecting and taking care of the American people.”
When it comes to making housing in America affordable again, Turner said you have to “increase the supply.”
“And the way you increase the supply is by getting rid of burdensome regulations,” Turner said. “Twenty-five percent of the cost to build a single-family home is in regulation alone. And 40 percent to build a multi-family project is in regulations alone.”
“So attacking burdensome regulations is a big part of making housing affordable again for the American people,” he added.
