Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing
Seal of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Incumbent Julia Gordon since May 20, 2022
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Style	Madam Secretary The Honorable (formal address in writing)
Reports to	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Seat	Washington, D.C., US
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	42 U.S.C. § 3533
Formation	September 9, 1965; 59 years ago (1965-09-09)
First holder	Philip N. Brownstein
Salary	Level IV of the Executive Schedule

The Assistant Secretary for Housing is a very important job within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, often called HUD. This person also has another title: Federal Housing Commissioner. Their main role is to help make sure people in the U.S. have good housing options.

This position involves looking after a huge amount of money, about $400 billion, that helps insure homes through the Federal Housing Administration. They also make sure rules are followed for buying and selling homes, and they oversee big housing groups like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They even help with rules for homes that are built in factories, called manufactured homes.

What Does the Assistant Secretary Do?

The President of the United States chooses the Federal Housing Commissioner. After the President picks someone, the United States Senate has to agree to the choice. This person is very important at HUD. They are third in line to take over if the main Secretary of Housing and Urban Development cannot do their job.

The Assistant Secretary earns a good salary, up to $200,000 each year. The person holding this job right now is Julia Gordon.

History of the Housing Commissioner Role

When the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was created in 1965, there was an Assistant Secretary role specifically for housing. Over time, this role changed a bit.

• In 1969, HUD Secretary George W. Romney decided to split the job into two parts:
  • One part was called the Assistant Secretary for Housing Production and Mortgage Credit. This person focused on building new homes and helping people get loans to buy them.
  • The other part was the Assistant Secretary for Housing Management. This person focused on managing existing housing and making sure it was well-kept.

• Then, in 1976, HUD Secretary Carla Hills brought these two roles back together. She created the single job we have today: Assistant Secretary for Housing & Federal Housing Commissioner. This means one person is in charge of both helping to create new housing and managing existing housing programs.

Past Assistant Secretaries – Federal Housing Commissioner

Here are some of the people who have held this important job over the years:

Image	Name	Term began	Term ended	President(s)
	Philip N. Brownstein	1963†	1969	Lyndon B. Johnson
	Eugene M. Gulledge	1969	1969	Richard M. Nixon
	James L. Young	June 14, 1976	December 1976	Gerald R. Ford
	John T. Howley (acting)	December 1976	March 1977
				Jimmy Carter
	Lawrence B. Simons	March 1977	1980
	Philip D. Winn	1981	1982	Ronald Reagan
	Philip Abrams	1982	1983
	Maurice Lee Barksdale	1983	1985
	Thomas Demery	1986	1989
	Catherine Austin Fitts	1989	1990	George H. W. Bush
	Arthur J. Hill	April 1991	1993
	Nicolas P. Retsinas	June 1993	February 27, 1998	Bill Clinton
	William C. Apgar	March 1998	2001
	John C. Weicher	June 1, 2001	2005	George W. Bush
	Brian D. Montgomery	February 2005	July 2009
				Barack Obama
	David H. Stevens	July 2009	March 2011
	Carol Galante	July 2011	December 2012
		December 2012	October 24, 2014
	Biniam Gebre	October 2014	April 7, 2015
	Ed Golding	April 7, 2015	January 20, 2017
	Dana T. Wade	July 2017	June 5, 2018	Donald Trump
	Brian D. Montgomery	June 5, 2018	May 12, 2020
	Dana T. Wade	July 28, 2020	January 20, 2021
	Janet M. Golrick	January 20, 2021	May 20, 2022	Joe Biden
	Julia Gordon	May 20, 2022	Incumbent

^†This person was already the FHA Commissioner when HUD was created.