WASHINGTON — Marcia Fudge, who has served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development since March 2021, is leaving the Biden administration, the White House announced Monday.
“When I took office, we inherited a broken housing system, with fair housing and civil rights protections severely dismantled under the previous administration,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “From day one, Marcia got to work rebuilding the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and over the past three years, she has been a strong voice for intensifying efforts to create a generational wealth through homeownership, reducing costs, and promoting fairness for America’s renters.”
Biden continued: “From her time as 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 for our country. his contributions to a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish him well in his next chapter.
The White House said that after Fudge leaves, Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting secretary.
In a statementFudge announced she would resign effective March 22, but did not say whether she had other plans for her career.
“Over the past three years, I have fully embraced HUD’s mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality, affordable housing for all,” she said, adding that at As she transitions to life as a public citizen, “I will continue to do the work to which I was called.
Fudge is only the second Cabinet secretary to leave the administration during Biden’s first term as president. The first was Marty Walsh, who left the post in March 2023 after serving as Labor Secretary for two years.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients said in an interview published last week by Politico that all current Cabinet members and senior White House officials would remain in their positions for the remainder of Biden’s first term.
A White House official said they knew about Fudge’s plans in advance and “Jeff was responding to a question about whether we had the team in place this year in the Cabinet and the House White”.
In Biden’s 2025 budget request released Monday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development asked Congress for a nearly $500 million increase in funding for its programs. It calls for expanding access to affordable rent through the Housing Choice Voucher program and increasing the supply of affordable housing to reduce housing costs.
Prior to working in the Biden administration, Fudge represented an Ohio congressional district in the House from 2008 to 2021, at one point serving as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
