The Administration · The Cabinet
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
A former NFL cornerback, Texas legislator and pastor who runs federal housing programs and has moved them toward stricter eligibility checks, treatment-first homelessness aid and a smaller budget, with several changes blocked in court.
Scott Turner was born in Richardson, Texas, in 1972 and played football at the University of Illinois, where he earned a degree in speech communications in 1995. 11 He spent nine seasons in the National Football League with the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. 1 2 He has said that growing up in a low-income family shapes how he sees the department's work. 4 After football he worked for a California congressman and made an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2006. 11
Back in Texas he worked for a software company and won a seat in the Texas House, representing the 33rd District from 2013 to 2017. 2 11 He challenged Speaker Joe Straus for the gavel in 2015 and lost, then did not seek re-election. 3 The Texas Tribune reported that as a legislator he was skeptical of government aid as a cure for poverty and declined to back bills to help tenants on housing assistance find apartments and to study homelessness. 3
In Donald Trump's first term he was executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which promoted investment in distressed areas known as Opportunity Zones. 1 3 He later served as an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, founded a community nonprofit and worked as an executive at the apartment developer JPI. 1 2 The Senate confirmed him as housing secretary 55-44 on February 5, 2025, and Justice Clarence Thomas swore him in. 1 3
As secretary he announced that the department's headquarters would leave Washington for Alexandria, Virginia, proposed a 13 percent cut to its own discretionary budget and steered homelessness grants away from the housing-first approach toward treatment and transitional programs. 5 9 Federal judges in Rhode Island have blocked three of those homelessness funding notices in under a year for skipping required procedures. 8
On November 10, 2026, he announced a final rule requiring proof of citizenship or eligible immigration status from every applicant and tenant in the department's housing programs, including families of mixed status. 10 The department says an audit with Homeland Security found nearly 200,000 tenants with incomplete or unknown verification. 10
The acts and events that have defined the post so far, oldest first.
Announced with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin that about 2,700 headquarters employees will move from Washington to a building in Alexandria that houses about 1,800 National Science Foundation workers. 5
The department proposed a rule to bar families of mixed immigration status from federally funded housing. 9
The administration's budget proposed cutting the department's discretionary budget by 13 percent and ending the HOME and Community Development Block Grant programs; Turner defended the cut before senators in May. 9
The department shifted homelessness grant priorities toward transitional housing, job training and addiction treatment and away from housing-first programs. 9
Suspended federal funding for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority pending an investigation. 9
Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island ruled the fiscal 2026 homelessness funding notice, covering about $4 billion, was issued without required public notice and comment. 8
What critics, courts or investigators have said, and the answer given. An allegation is not a finding.
The Government Accountability Office confirmed it would examine reported staff cuts at the department's fair housing office, after a request from Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. 7 Whistleblowers later alleged the office had lost most of its staff and that lawyers were barred from speaking out; two lawyers who spoke publicly were dismissed. 14
Their side: Turner has said functions critical to the department's mission would continue. 7
The union for National Science Foundation employees said its members were given no plan for where they would go, and claimed the Alexandria renovation would include an executive dining room and reserved parking for the secretary. 5
Their side: Turner said the move puts the health and safety of his staff first, citing leaks and poor air in the Washington building, and promised a staggered, careful relocation. He did not detail building changes. 5
The advocacy group Public Citizen filed a Hatch Act complaint with the Office of Special Counsel over a banner on the department's website blaming the coming shutdown on the left wing of the Democratic Party, calling it a partisan use of a government site. 6
Their side: Turner said he was not worried that the message broke the law; a department spokeswoman repeated the banner's claim. 12 6
Courts have blocked three homelessness funding notices in less than a year for violating administrative procedure law. The National Alliance to End Homelessness and local governments, who sued, argue the changes could leave about 97,000 people homeless. 8 In July 2026 another judge blocked changes to fair housing funding. 9
Their side: Turner says the department will promote treatment, recovery and self-sufficiency, and that housing alone is not enough; the department maintains its changes are legal. 8 9
Housing nonprofits said the mixed-status proposal could lead to the eviction of tens of thousands of tenants. 9
Their side: Turner said the rule ensures that only citizens and eligible noncitizens live in taxpayer-funded housing while veterans, the elderly and people with disabilities wait on lists. 10
Quotes from our stories, each matched word for word against its source before it ran.
“American taxpayers will no longer foot the bill.”
A new federal rule requires proof of citizenship or eligible immigration status in HUD-funded housing. A research group says it could push about 80,000 people out of their homes, many of them U.S.-citizen children.
Days before the midterms, Trump signed an order to cut the costs of buying and refinancing a home. The sources reviewed offer no per-household savings figure to back the claim of "thousands."
File checked Nov. 13, 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Tell the desk.
