Marcia Fudge, Biden’s Housing Secretary, Is Stepping Down

Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge is stepping down next week, according to an email she wrote to staff on Monday.

Serving as HUD secretary “was the ideal opportunity to culminate a career focused on doing the most good for the most people, including those who have often been left behind or left out,” Fudge wrote. “With mixed emotions, I am announcing my retirement and resignation from the position of Secretary of HUD, effective March 22, 2024.”

Fudge’s retirement represents a surprising departure from President Joe Biden’s otherwise stable Cabinet just eight months before the election. It also comes just days after White House chief of staff Jeff Zients told POLITICO Playbook that the Cabinet has “people who are committed to this president.”

“So,” Zients added, “yes, we have the team in place.” 

Biden’s Cabinet has been remarkably stable. Fudge’s departure would mark only the second in the administration, following former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh leaving his post last year.

Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a post that was recently elevated to Cabinet status, stepped down in 2022 amid reports of bullying staff.

In a statement, Biden praised Fudge’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,” he wrote. “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.”

Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting secretary, according to the White House.