Fudge Serves Up The Truth
Written by Bradley Clark on January 26, 2022
The computer screens of dozens of young men and women were illuminated with a feeling of optimism and change, as students from all over had a discussion for the ages. On Jan. 26, the Department for Urban and Housing Department’s Secretary Marcia Fudge spoke with HBCU students across the nation on a virtual platform. She went into thorough detail about the struggles of housing in urban communities today.
“When we talk about homelessness, it is a crisis in this country,” Fudge said. “We know that every day in this country, over 5,000 people sleep on the streets.”
She also used this example to express how programs like House America are combating the housing issue.
“We have almost 70 cities that are agreeing to work with us to eradicate homelessness,” Fudge said. “By the end of 2022, we will have 20,000 housing units for those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
After her discussion with students over the homeless epidemic, she went on to talk about the issues that face college students.
“Unfortunately, HUD doesn’t have any programs or resources right now to tackle housing on college campuses,” Fudge said. “It’s a difficult situation right now because one of the growing groups of people who are hungry in this country today are college students.”
For Fudge, she alongside HUD knows that supplying college students nationally is a problem, which is why they are looking towards places like the U.S. Department of Education for answers.
“We are going to have a conversation with Secretary Cardona to talk about how we are going to be able to be helpful,” Fudge said.
The issues listed throughout the Wednesday briefing all point back to the main issue that plagues housing today.
“We still haven’t put enough housing into the market to take the stress off of the market,” Fudge said. “But I do believe that there will be some stress off the market because we are putting housing into the market daily.”
She would also explain her hopes for HUD and its impact on the future of the overall housing market in more detail.
“We have issues of people not wishing for us to build modern income housing in their neighborhoods, we have lots of issues that we are addressing,” Fudge said. “But I do think that over the next 2 years we will see a significant drop in prices.”
While she plans on continuing the fight against homelessness in America, she hopes that students play their part in ensuring change.
“Go to your city,” Fudge said. “Go to the city of Atlanta where there are resources to deal with homelessness.”
Fudge has a simple vision or plan for students across the nation to follow. She wants them to go out and do their part if they want to see change happen.
“It is an obligation to go out and do things to help out other people,” Fudge said. “You are the people who are going to save our communities going forward.”
