Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner got into a heated discussion on Thursday, with the New York Democrat raising her voice at Turner over his repeated references to the Biden administration.
During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Turner noted that his department reported that in 2024, more than 770,000 people were homeless at one time — the highest recorded mark in U.S. history.
“This is with record funding,” Turner noted. “So we have record funding, but yet we have an increase in street homelessness.”
Gillibrand cut him off and asked, “So what is your record? You had this job for well over a year. I just want to know, did you get the number down?”
She then asked Turner how many homeless people were in the department’s latest report, questioning whether it was still around 700,000 or if it had increased.
“So I get you want to do things differently,” Gillibrand said. “And this committee will support you as long as the goals are good, but where’s the result?”
The New York Democrat then slammed Turner for the delayed release of the latest homeless report from HUD.
“You’re in charge, you have a vision,” she told Turner. “Let’s see it. Let’s see the results.”
Turner, a former NFL player and Republican state representative from Texas, replied, “I thank God that I’m in charge so we can do stuff differently. Because the plays that were ran before I got here, they failed.”
“I have been here a little bit over a year,” he continued. “But you all had during the Biden administration, four years.”
Gillibrand then cut him off again and shouted, “Stop talking about Biden, talk about your record.”
She continued, “This is so inaccurate, unhelpful, and doesn’t let this committee do our job.”
As for why HUD has not released its latest report, Turner cited the 43-day government shutdown in the fall.
“The point-in-time report would be out right now if we did not have a government shutdown. Irregardless of all of that, during the Biden administration, record funding,” Turner said, before Gillibrand again cut him off.
“Oh my God! If you talk about — it’s like two children saying, ‘I didn’t do it. My brother did it.’ Stop with the excuses,” she stated. “Just explain your record.”
She later asked Turner, “Do you know what it’s like to be a homeless little girl who has to have a Girl Scout troop just for other homeless little girls? Because that’s all they have. That’s the only consistency they have in their life.”
“I need to know if your stuff is working,” she added.
In its 2024 point-in-time report, HUD noted that “several factors likely contributed” to the record high number of homeless people in the country.
“Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits,” the 117-page report stated.
Since taking over the department in February of last year, Turner has criticized the “Housing First” policy at HUD under the Biden administration — which prioritized providing housing to homeless individuals and then connecting them to voluntary services.
On Thursday, Turner again reiterated that point.
“I’m not talking to you about what I’ve heard,” he told Gillibrand. “I’m talking to you about what I know. And what I do know: The Housing First model failed.”
