HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge Delivers Remarks at the San Antonio House America Press

Delivered: October 17, 2022

Good morning!

It is my pleasure to join you all to mark this milestone.

A little over a year ago, we launched House America as an all-hands-on-deck effort to address our nation's homelessness crisis.

House America is a call-to-action to leaders at all levels of local government to work with HUD to take advantage of the historic resources in the President's American Rescue Plan to solve homelessness effectively and humanely.

We called on local leaders to fully commit to addressing the homelessness crisis not just with words, but with action.

We asked them to set specific goals: how many people will you re-house into permanent homes? How many new units of housing will you put in the development pipeline by the end of this year?

Elected officials across the country, local, state and tribal leaders, have accepted the challenge. Mayor Nirenberg, thank you for being among the first to join House America.

You and the city of San Antonio set ambitious goals for re-housing individuals and creating units. Congratulations for being the first House America community to not only meet, but to exceed your re-housing goal.

You have done this work in close collaboration with your community partners in the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless. I congratulate you all as well.

I commend you for recognizing that in order to confront this crisis we must confront the injustices that have led people, especially Black and brown people and other people of color, into homelessness. No community has ever solved homelessness by banning it. Sweeping and moving encampments from one area to another.

To solve homelessness, we must offer people the housing, support, and services they so desperately need.

Mayor, you demonstrate the level of leadership, collaboration, and commitment to Housing First that communities need to solve homelessness.

I look forward to the additional accomplishments you and your city will be able to achieve under House America.

Through our collective efforts, we can show how federal and local resources, focused leadership, and strong collaboration with non-profit providers can help us reduce and, ultimately, end homelessness.

Thank you.

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