Candace Valenzuela Joins HUD as Regional Administrator in the Southwest

Valenzuela oversees HUD operations, field offices and federal housing assistance in the five-state region

FORT WORTH - On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced the appointment of Candace Valenzuela to serve as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's regional administrator in the Southwest (Region VI).As regional administrator, Valenzuela will be based in Fort Worth and will oversee HUD operations, eight field offices and federal housing assistance throughout the five-state region, which covers Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. She is one of 10 HUD regional administrators appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration.

"The HUD Southwest team has made some extraordinary achievements - especially throughout the pandemic - in helping those who faced evictions and foreclosures, limited access to affordable housing, discrimination and the need to recover from a disaster," HUD Regional Administrator Candace Valenzuela said. "I am emboldened to lead and join these and future HUD efforts to achieve equity, facilitate homeownership, expand the affordable housing supply here in the Southwest, and keep this region's residents, including those experiencing and most vulnerable for homelessness housed."

Valenzuela credits HUD and public education with giving her the stability she and her family needed to thrive as she experienced food and housing insecurity throughout childhood. After becoming the first in her family to graduate college, Valenzuela has since devoted her life to fighting for opportunities for others. She first ran for her local school board to improve Texas schools, becoming the first Latina and first Black woman to serve on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school board. While on the board, she worked to ensure that faculty and staff would be able to afford to live in the district they served, and that students would have a strong education to help them overcome life's challenges. Valenzuela previously worked as a development manager for Metrocrest Services, a half-century-old non-profit that has worked hard to fight hunger, housing insecurity, and unemployment in her community.

"I am very pleased Regional Administrator Valenzuela accepted this call to serve and is joining me and the HUD team to deliver on the agency's goals and Secretary Fudge's vision. She brings with her a profound appreciation and deep respect for how communities interact with their government, and I look forward to her contributions to provide housing and sustainable economic development across the Southwest region," HUD Office of Field Policy and Management Assistant Deputy Secretary Michele Perez said.

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