Department of Housing and Urban Development, Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development

Department/Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development

Position:

Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development

Executive Schedule: Executive Level IV - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

Oversee distribution of Community Development Block Grants to nearly 1,200 communities and states
Administer disaster recovery block grants
Help provide decent housing and economic opportunities to low- and moderate-income persons in distressed communities
Partner with government agencies and the private sector to strengthen communities and spur development
Work to eliminate slums and blight and prevent communities from slipping into disrepair
Empower citizens to participate in community planning
Stimulate creation of community-based organizations
House the homeless, especially homeless veterans, and fund emergency shelters
Aid in the recovery from disasters such as Hurricane Katrina
Provide housing assistance for those with HIV/AIDS and their families
Administer a new, $4 billion grant to help communities buy foreclosed homes to shore up neighborhood values

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Background in housing and/or community development
Senior management experience
Familiarity with state and local government and with Congress

Insight:

In every administration, Democrat or Republican, the assistant secretary for community planning and development in the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been the point person in federal efforts to eliminate slums, fight homelessness and overcome urban blight and poverty. More recently, this office has played a role in funneling disaster recovery aid to cities and regions struck by hurricanes, floods and other disasters. It was Andrew Cuomo's first job in HUD before President Bill Clinton promoted him to the Cabinet for Clinton's second term. Another New Yorker, former Syracuse Mayor Roy Bernardi, was assistant secretary before President George W. Bush tapped Bernardi to become deputy HUD secretary in 2004. Bernardi was a high school Spanish teacher before being elected mayor and making a national reputation for forcing Syracuse slumlords to clean up their properties.

Perhaps it was that earlier calling in the classroom that led Bernardi, on a journey to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to distribute HUD block grants to the island's mayors, to close his remarks with a tribute to the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes and the hero of his comic novel, Don Quixote, who fancies himself a knight errant. "Cervantes is literature's greatest novelist precisely because Don Quixote overcame circumstances and difficulties, empowers the lowly and needy, sees what is possible, and is a source of respect and regard for all people. His quest brings respect and dignity to those who need assistance and compassion," said Bernardi. Seeking to extend Don Quixote's mantle to HUD's work, he added, "These grants are not an effort to tilt at windmills. They help bring real solutions to people who need us, to empower them, to help people become, in Cervantes words, ‘the architect' of their own destiny."

Those lofty words describe a difficult and endless task: helping some of the poorest people in the United States put a roof over their heads and trying to pull entire communities out of the blight of urban poverty and accompanying social ills. It is a mission that President-elect Barack Obama and his choice for HUD secretary, Shaun Donovan, must pursue while the country is mired in its worst economic crisis in decades. It is also a mission dear to the heart of the new president, who began his career as a community organizer in Chicago. Obama let it be known immediately after the election that he planned to establish a new White House Office on Urban Policy, with a director reporting to him. As a candidate Obama made these promises a cornerstone of his urban policy: full funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), restoration of cuts in public housing subsidies, and creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to make thousands of new units available each year. Even with the new urban policy director in the White House, the assistant secretary for community planning and development at HUD will play an important role in translating that campaign rhetoric into reality.

The $3.6 billion Community Development Block Grant is one of HUD's largest and oldest programs, providing grants to nearly 1,200 localities. It also has become Congress preferred vehicle for funneling special relief to cities, states and regions hammered by such disasters as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and the terrorist strike on the heart of New York's financial district in 2001. The assistant secretary currently administers almost $30 billion in disaster recovery grants, with two-thirds going to the Gulf States. Congress also boosted CDGB grants for Florida after Hurricane Ike and for the Midwest after major flooding there in 2008.

Some $3.7 billion was allocated by formula for regular CDBG grants in 2007 and almost $3.6 billion for 2008; the outgoing Bush administration requested $2.9 billion for fiscal 2009. The program retains strong support in Congress, which rejected earlier Bush proposals to overhaul the program and place it under the Department of Commerce. A Bush proposal to cut in half grants to the most affluent communities also gained no traction. However, the CDBG grants are still well below their high water mark of $4.5 billion in 1995, early in the Clinton administration. Even ardent backers of CDBG concede that there are problems with the funding formula, which has withstood change for three decades. There are disparities in how much communities in similar circumstances receive, and some critics say the neediest communities get too little and the wealthiest too much.

Seventy percent of CDBG funds must be used to benefit low- and moderate-income persons, and they must be aimed at such national objectives as prevention or elimination of slums and blight, or addressing urgent threats to communities' health and welfare. The funds are distributed by formula to larger cities and urban counties. States get their own CDBG grants to help small cities and rural areas.

Recently, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 created a $4 billion supplemental CDBG grant to help communities hardest hit by foreclosures and delinquencies purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes to shore up neighborhood prices. The assistant secretary also runs the $2 billion HOME Investment Partnership program and provides $1 billion in Homeless Assistance, as well as the 10-year-old Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development, which President Bush unsuccessfully sought to zero out in 2008. HUD's Empowerment Zones and Renewal Community programs also fall under his or her jurisdiction.

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

Secretary and Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Assistant Secretary, Economic Development, U.S. Department of Commerce
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental & International Affairs, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)
Director, Homeless Veterans Programs, VA
Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Administrator, Small Business Administration
Administrator, Administration on Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of Treasury
Director, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Domestic Finance, Treasury
Commanding General and Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Key Relationships – Outside the Government:

National League of Cities
U.S. Conference of Mayors
National Urban League
National Association of Counties
National Community Development Association
Freddie Mac
National Association of Home Builders
American Planning Association

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

Current Position Profile:
1. Mercedes Márquez (Confirmed: June 25, 2009). General Manager, Housing Department, City of Los Angeles, California. During the Clinton administration, Marquez served as Senior Counsel for Civil Rights and Fair Housing, Office of the Secretary, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Susan Peppler (2008-2009). Former mayor of Redlands, CA. Former deputy for intergovernmental affairs at General Services Administration. Chairman of Redlands Redevelopment Agency and housing director for the Inland Empire Division, League of California Cities. Public affairs specialist for State Farm Insurance.

3. Pamela Hughes Patenaude, M.A. (2005-2007). Former HUD field office manager. Former deputy chief of staff to Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH). Former vice president of Manor Homes Builders, Inc., in Bedford, NH. Served in HUD during Reagan administration. Ran Section 8 rental assistance for the New Hampshire Housing Authority. Master's degree in community economic development.

4. Romolo A. (Roy) Bernardi (2001-2004). Former mayor of Syracuse, NY, and high school Spanish teacher and guidance counselor. Nominated and confirmed as deputy secretary of HUD in 2004.