New HUD Nominee: Great News for Housing Affordability

[J. Mitchell Bernier]

Recently Trump has announced the nomination of Scott Turner to be the new Secretary of the Dept of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. If you are not familiar with Scott, Scott was the Executive Director of the Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which was tasked in part to support and advance Opportunity Zone tax credits during the first Trump Administration. Why is this important? Opportunity Zone Tax Credits helped fuel more investments in rural and under-served markets where capital is needed, but not much is available. These tax credits unlocked capital which was deployed to purchase and rehab commercial real estate in struggling downtown areas or help fund small businesses in these qualified zones. It is estimated that in 2020 alone $48 Billion was invested in new projects in over 3800 different census tracts.

The current bill is set to expire in 2026 ending the tax credits for these investments. However; two new pieces of legislation were proposed in 2023 to help expand these credits to more areas and extend the timeline of the credits. The most likely main focus of many congressional hearings on this nomination will be on how to address the affordability crisis in this country. Though I have not personally contributed to these investments for tax credits, I have personally seen these investments in action and these investments can help provide more supply of housing and development that would otherwise not be there. This is truly the only way out, build baby build!

I look forward to hearing from the nominee on his plans to help spur more economic progress in more under-served areas like the ones that I live in, work in, and invest in and hope he will help extend and expand the Opportunity Zone Tax Credits.

https://www.jtcgroup.com/insights/opportunity-zones-have-done-what-they-were-created-to-do-will-that-be-enough/

https://eig.org/opportunity-zones-research-brief/