Housing News

HUD’ Secretary Marcia L. Fudge met the rural and urban Alaskans to discuss the housing issues they were facing.

The other guests at the roundtable discussion include tribal leaders and state and local government officials. Fudge also appreciated the participants’ willingness to share their challenges with her.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan accompanied Fudge and said that Alaska is quite different from the rest of the country such as rural communities in Alaska having higher costs of living. During her visit, Fudge announced Millions of Dollars for tribal affordable housing projects across the state.

The concerns raised by Alaskans include an unfair distribution formula for HUD’s funding to address homelessness. Fudge said that Alaskans gave a good argument in favor of adjusting the HUD’s funding formula to make it more equitable.

Not only in Rural Alaska but in Urban Alaska also, affordable housing is an issue. The pandemic caused a slowdown in new home construction, resulting in a reduced housing market and increased home prices and rents. The Assembly is considering a proposal to modify residential zoning rules to facilitate more housing and come up with more housing solutions.

HUD Secretary Fudge revealed that her department is exploring ways to relax zoning and planning regulations across the country to boost housing. Additionally, HUD has allocated billions of dollars to assist communities in implementing strategies to augment housing availability.

HUD’s Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said, “We’re saying to communities: If you really want to make a difference, and you really want to make some changes, we’re willing to help you fund
these processes to fund the data collection, to fund the new ideas that we think can be helpful”.