A member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet is stepping down.
Marcia Fudge, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, announced on March 11 that she will retire at the end of the month.
“It's time to go home,’’ Fudge told USA TODAY in an interview. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.”
The 71-year-old said both Republicans and Democrats should be concurrent about affordable housing, which she described as neither a “red or blue” issue. She expressed concern about the need to build more affordable housing, repair public housing developments, and invest in multi-family housing. The secretary estimated these projects would cost $70 billion.
“Everybody knows that it is an issue so it’s not a one-sided issue,” said Fudge. “It’s an American issue.”
Prior to her time in the Biden administration, Fudge had spent 13 years in the United States Congress representing Ohio. She is a former prosecutor and served as the mayor of Warrensville Heights between 2000 and 2008.
‘’When you’re in these kinds of roles you go out when you’re on top and I believe that’s where we are,’’ Fudge said of her decision to retire. “We’ve turned an organization around that nobody talked about before, nobody had any faith or confidence in before.’’
Fudge intends to leave public life completely and will not seek another elected position,
“Don’t look for me to ever be on another ballot or another appointee or anything like that,’’ she said. “I really do look forward to being a private citizen.”
Fudge’s final day is March 22. Biden wished Fudge well in her next chapter in a statement released by the White House.
“When I took office, we inherited a broken housing system, with fair housing and civil rights protections badly dismantled under the prior administration,” he said. “On 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 expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters.”
“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,” Biden added.
Two other members of Biden’s cabinet have also departed during the last two years. In 2022, then-director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Eric Lander resigned following complaints that he bullied his staff members. Former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh resigned in 2023 in order to become the executive director of the National Hockey League.
