Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner drew criticism from a Senate Democrat during a tense hearing on Thursday after repeatedly referencing the Biden administration in his remarks.
Turner appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify on HUD’s proposed 2027 budget request and to answer questions about the department’s ongoing priorities and performance. While delivering his opening statement, he frequently pointed to policies and conditions inherited from the Biden administration, a framing that prompted pushback from lawmakers.
Following his remarks, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said she believes she and Turner share some common goals when it comes to addressing housing challenges, but strongly disagrees with the administration’s approach to achieving them. She then shifted focus to what she described as a serious oversight issue within the department.
Gillibrand highlighted that HUD’s required “homeless data report” had still not been submitted and was now roughly a year overdue. She stressed that the report is essential for evaluating whether current federal housing and homelessness policies are actually working and producing measurable results.
The delay, she suggested, raises concerns about transparency and accountability within the department as lawmakers continue to assess the effectiveness of the administration’s housing strategy.
The conversation continued:
TURNER: What I will say, and I offer this, is number one: the point in time report and the Biden administration HUD said that we had 770,000 people in America that were homeless at one given time; and this is with record funding. So we have record funding, but yet we have an increase in street homelessness.
GILLIBRAND: Right, so what is your record? You’ve had this job for well over a year! I just wanna know, did you get the number down? Do we have 700,000 homeless still? Or is it a million? Or 1.5 million? So I get you wanna do things differently, and this committee will support you as long as the goals are good, but where’s the results? The report is delayed over a year — over a year! So we have no–
TURNER: Can I offer this to you?
GILLIBRAND: Yes, but we have– I just don’t wanna hear about what you don’t like about the Biden administration. You’re in charge. You have a vision. Let’s see it. Let’s see the results.
TURNER: And you know, I thank God that I’m in charge so we can do stuff different, because the plays that were ran before I got here, they failed. I’ve been here — let me speak, if you will — you said I have been here a little bit over a year, but you all had, during the Biden administration, four years–
GILLIBRAND: Stop talking about Biden!
TURNER: –and it was record funding–
GILLIBRAND: Talk about your record! This is so inaccurate, unhelpful, and doesn’t let this committee do our job!
Turner then claimed the homeless report would have been out by now if it weren’t for the “unprecedented” government shutdown. He also added that the administration being in “constant litigation” has delayed the release of the report.
When Gillibrand asked how litigation would have anything to do with the homeless report. The secretary dodged the question and instead restated his criticisms of the Biden administration:
TURNER: Irregardless of all that, during the Biden administration, record funding–
GILLIBRAND: 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! Just explain your record!
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