'There's Just No Housing': Tony Gonzalez Asks HUD Secretary About Affordable Housing For First Responders

6 months ago

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing last month, Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX) questioned Housing and Urban Development Sec. Scott Turner about affordable housing for first responders.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Ms. Secretary, for your service to our great

00:05country. I'm a military veteran. I served 20 years in the military. Chairman Womack's a veteran,

00:11Secretary Zinke's a veteran. My question is on homeless veterans, my first question.

00:16One of the issues I care deeply about is homeless veterans. Back in 2024, HUD identified that on

00:22any given night, there are more than 32,000 homeless veterans. That's 32,000 too many.

00:27This issue hits close to home in my district, in rural parts like Alpine and Van Horn, where

00:32there's little to no affordable housing supply, and in urban areas like San Antonio and El Paso,

00:39the housing availability for homeless veterans through HUD is often substandard or inadequate.

00:45Secretary Turner, would you be willing to visit my district so we can work together on this issue

00:50and find solutions to address the challenges facing both rural and urban homeless veterans?

00:55Yes, sir. Congressman Gonzalez, thank you. It's great to meet you. I do commit to visiting you

01:01in your district to come up with these viable solutions, and also working with my colleague,

01:05Secretary Collins, as it pertains to veterans and veterans' homelessness.

01:09Thank you for that. My next will be a comment on the community development block grants. The

01:15community development block grants have been a vital tool in my district, especially in the colonias.

01:21These are communities that don't have running water. It's absolutely atrocious, the conditions

01:27they're in. They're in predominantly rural, unincorporated communities that often lack less

01:33than basic infrastructure, like running water, waste system, electricity, and paved roads.

01:38But I'd also urge the HUD to take a serious look at preserving this program or making sure that

01:45it just isn't completely removed. With the right safeguards in place, I believe we've got to find

01:51the waste and the abuse. And I love the idea of how do you change it, right? If it's not working,

01:55how do you fix it? So to that, you know, continuing to find critical infrastructure improvements in this

02:01community through that program, I think is important. My next question is on foster youth.

02:07One of the things I encouraged, I was encouraged to see in HUD's budget request was the inclusion

02:14of $25 million for foster youth to independence grants. As a member of the Congressional Caucus

02:20on Foster Youth, I recognize how critical these programs are for, how critical these programs are

02:26for helping youth transition out of the foster care system. Last year, I passed a bill on the House

02:32Find and Protect Your Foster Act, so clearly it's important. Is HUD act, my question is this,

02:37is HUD actively helping to track the number of foster youth who experience homelessness? And what

02:43steps is HUD taking to ensure vulnerable populations don't fall through these cracks?

02:49Yes, sir. Thank you, Congressman. And we too are glad and excited that we have money in the budget to

02:55make sure that our youth that are aging out of foster care have a solid ground to land on. As we know

03:02that being in foster care is very difficult for our youth. And when I was in the House of

03:06Representatives sitting on the committee dealing with foster care and our youth in foster care,

03:11so I too have a heart for this. And so happy to be working with the First Lady and her team and you

03:16and your team on how we help from a HUD perspective these youth that are aging out of foster care to

03:21make sure that they have safe and sustainable places to stay and get on a good trajectory for

03:26their lives.

03:27I appreciate you making a priority and I look forward. Once again, I like the idea of, hey,

03:31how do we reimagine things? And I think this is a positive part of that reimagination. Very

03:37personal to me. My wife was a foster child. And so I want to make sure that we work together to see

03:43that program get off the ground and grow and be productive. My last question is on law enforcement

03:49housing. I represent nearly half of the overall southern border, places like Eagle Pass, Del Rio, El Paso.

03:55My district has been ground zero for this border crisis. And as a result, we've seen a large surge

04:00of law enforcement personnel from CBP, National Guard deployed to this area. But in many cases,

04:06these are small rural communities and there's simply not enough housing supply to meet the need.

04:11Out in West Texas, for example, I've been fighting to secure housing for first responders.

04:15My question is this. Given the president's commitment to supporting first responders,

04:21what is HUD doing to ensure that first responders and those that are deployed to these areas

04:27have affordable and adequate housing?

04:30Yes, sir, Congressman. And thank you for that. You know, I too

04:32have a heart and it's top priority of our first responders and all Americans to make sure that

04:39they have affordable, sustainable places to stay. And obviously, you know, we have our FHA program

04:44and the president too is a priority of his. And so we look forward to working with you and your

04:48colleagues and your staff on how we can ensure and help our first responders as they too look for

04:54housing to purchase and rent in your district and around the country.

04:57Thank you for that. Because as we surge these people to these areas, there's just there's just

05:02no housing. And that's that has been one of the take backs. You can't just put pieces on a board

05:07that you got to drill down a little bit. So thank you again for your testimony. I look forward to

05:11working with you and chairwoman I yield back. Thank you.

'There's Just No Housing': Tony Gonzalez Asks HUD Secretary About Affordable Housing For First Responders

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