Scott Turner Nominated for HUD Secretary

November 25, 2024

BY Linda Couch

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The one-time NFL football player's political career includes stints as an elected official and civil servant, most recently as the executive director of the first Trump administration's White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council

On November 22, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Turner to be the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Mr. Turner's career includes many years as an elected official and civil servant, most recently as the executive director of the first Trump Administration's White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which was tasked in part to support and advance Opportunity Zone tax credits. Opportunity Zones were authorized by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

According to HUD, Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities, defined by individual census tract, nominated by governors and certified by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Opportunity Zones provide tax incentives for investments in new businesses and commercial projects in low income and undercapitalized communities. The Opportunity Zone program is intended to spur investment in distressed communities by allowing taxpayers specialized tax treatment, including deferred capital gains, for investments in Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF), which, in turn, must invest at least 90% of their assets in businesses located in qualified Opportunity Zones. Equity from Opportunity Zones can be used as a source of capital for affordable housing.

Prior to joining the first Trump White House, Mr. Turner served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives (2012 - 2017). At the Texas House, Mr. Turner served on the government transparency and operation committee, the government efficiency and reform committee, the human services committee, the select committee on federalism and fiscal responsibility, and the international trade and intergovernmental affairs committee.

Since his time with the first Trump Administration, Mr. Turner has been chair of the America First Policy Institute's (AFPI) Center for Education Opportunity team, one of 20 teams at this think tank. School choice is one focus of the Center for Education Opportunity, which supports school vouchers for families to choose and pay for schools of their choice. (Another AFPI staff member, Linda McMahon, has been nominated by President-elect Trump to be the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education).

In addition to supporting Opportunity Zones, the AFPI supports policies related to housing to "[a]bandon the failed "Housing First" philosophy," "[a]ddress overregulated local housing markets," and fix "[m]eans-tested welfare programs, such as housing and food assistance, [that] undermine their anti-poverty rationale when they sharply cut benefits off as household income increases. Policies like these discourage fathers from returning to the home and penalize all families for taking actions to move up the economic ladder. With government programs acting as a destabilizing force for families, out-of-wedlock births have skyrocketed from five percent in 1960 to more than 40% today. To address this crisis, we must first raise awareness about the issue of fatherless children and then work to find new solutions."

Mr. Turner has called former HUD Secretary Ben Carson a mentor. In addition to coordinating on Opportunity Zones, the two worked together during the first Trump Administration on a summer reading series for children.

After college, Mr. Turner played football for three National Football League (NFL) teams for a total of nine years; during NFL off-seasons, Mr. Turner worked as an intern then-U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA). After Mr. Turner retired from the NFL in 2004, he worked full time for the congressman.

LeadingAge looks forward to working with Mr. Turner to preserve, expand, and improve affordable housing.