DOGE could be the answer to the US affordable housing crisis

Scott Turner, the newly confirmed secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was quick to announce that Elon Musk's controversial Department of Government Efficiency was coming to HUD.

Turner posted a video on X, the social media platform owned by Musk: “I’m happy to announce the DOGE task force here at HUD. … We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America.”

You don’t have to be a mind reader or fortune teller to predict what the response will be. Turner’s efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse will be met with claims of racism. But having spent most of my adult life in public service as an elected official in Newark, N.J. I have seen firsthand the abject failures of our housing policy.

I have seen the damage done to our communities, and I have watched the heart-breaking toll the failures have taken on the most marginalized people. I am here to tell you that ending waste, fraud and abuse is not racism — indeed, the opposite is true.

Every dollar lost to waste, fraud and abuse comes at a staggering cost to the families and individuals who rely on HUD. Turner is absolutely right to work with DOGE, to make sure that every penny we spend ends up helping people, not politicians.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. If Turner is truly committed to change, he should commit to systemic reforms, imposing fiscal responsibility and addressing regulatory barriers that have failed families and communities across the country.

Here in Newark, I have watched a vicious cycle of failure, attempts at change, and failure again when it comes to housing. For example, the Biden-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule encroached on the ability of state and local governments to respond to community needs, adding a laundry list of government mandates to socially reengineer neighborhoods through red tape and zoning requirements. The result was a costly and ineffective one-size-fits-all approach that made it harder for families and communities to realize the American dream of homeownership.

We have seen this playbook before. If we are going to truly break this cycle and actually improve the lives of the citizens who need a hand up, then we need fundamental reform to protect neighborhood integrity and return local property rights to local leadership. Secretary Turner was right to do just that by terminating this Biden-era rule, restoring trust to local communities and property owners.

We need to make every effort to empower tenant associations: no one knows the needs of a community better than the residents of that community. Tenant associations should be given the power to bypass bureaucracy and make decisions about how dollars are spent.

We need to protect the men and women living in low-income housing; that means ending the ridiculous and dangerous practice of housing young, supposedly “disabled” people with the elderly in our senior housing projects. We also need an investment in a physical security presence — cameras are not going to keep residents safe or keep criminals out. We need human security in all of our housing projects.

We must encourage and develop public-private partnerships that will build housing that you would want to raise a family in, housing that looks like it was built in the 21st century, not Cold War-era nuclear fallout shelters.

We should encourage private enterprise and the local, state and federal government to work with local charities and community organizations to build the next generation of housing — one that meets the specific needs of those communities and their residents.

We have examples of what works. In Raleigh, N.C., King’s Ridge just opened, a 100-unit affordable housing community that is providing state-of-the-art housing and services to the most in-need individuals and families in the area. King’s Ridge was a collaborative effort between the government, private business and local charities.

Residents at King’s Ridge pay one-third of their income for rent and utilities. Housing is considered affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of income on housing costs. King's Ridge is reserved for households with incomes at or below 60 percent of area median income, with priority given to households at 30 percent. In addition to housing, the complex offers supportive services to help residents, including case management, physical and mental healthcare, employment coaching and child care. Comprehensive, wrap-around care like this helps ensure that residents have the resources they need to build a better life for themselves and work toward a future without government support.

The King’s Ridge development recognizes that a lack of affordable housing impacts almost every facet of an individual's or family’s life — from academic success to mental health to substance abuse issues to family stability. What is happening at King’s Ridge is a recipe for success that can and should be duplicated.

What is needed today is courage, to admit our failures, to chart a new path forward and to ignore what is politically expedient in favor of what is morally right. It is time that our politicians and our leaders channel the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote, “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles. Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right?”

Secretary Turner is taking bold action that is needed. I applaud his leadership — it is time to do what is right for our nation’s most vulnerable people.

Gayle Cheneyfield Jenkins is a long-time member of the Newark City Council and an advocate for affordable housing

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