President Joe Biden‘s secretary of housing and urban development, Marcia Fudge, will step down from her post next week, making her just the fifth Cabinet official to depart since Biden entered the White House.
Fudge first announced her decision Monday in an email sent to HUD staff. Deputy HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman will begin serving as acting HUD secretary upon Fudge’s departure, according to the White House.
Biden himself thanked Fudge for her tenure atop the department, saying that Fudge has, over the past three years, “been a strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters.”
“Under Marcia’s transformational leadership, we have worked hard to lower housing costs and increase supply. We’ve proposed the largest investment in affordable housing in U.S. history. We’ve taken steps to aggressively combat racial discrimination in housing by ensuring home appraisals are more fair and by strengthening programs to redress the negative impacts of redlining,” the president wrote in a statement. “Thanks to Secretary Fudge, we’ve helped first-time homebuyers, and we are working to cut the cost of renting. And there are more housing units under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years.”
“From her time as a mayor, to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Marcia’s vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country. I’m grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter,” he said.
Fudge’s departure, just the second of any of Biden’s department heads, comes days after White House chief of staff Jeff Zients suggested to Politico that no Cabinet-level officials would exit their roles ahead of the 2024 general election.
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Former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was replaced by Julie Su last year. Su previously served as the deputy labor secretary under Walsh and has been serving in an acting capacity since that time, as she has not completed her confirmation process in the Senate.