Senate confirms Trump's pick for HUD deputy secretary

The U.S. Senate approved President Donald Trump's nominee for deputy secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a party-line vote Tuesday.

Andrew Hughes, a former HUD official who most recently had been serving as chief of staff to department Secretary Scott Turner, was confirmed by a vote of 51-44. All Republicans voiced their support for the nominee and Democrats uniformly against him. Five Senate members did not participate. 

Nominated by Trump in March, Hughes will serve as HUD's chief operating officer, working alongside Turner to support the administration's affordable homeownership strategies and promote economic development. 

"Serving at HUD is more than a job — it's a calling," said the new deputy secretary in a press release. "I'm humbled to help lead an agency that expands opportunity for all communities – rural, tribal, and urban." 

The leading mortgage trade group welcomed Hughes into his new role immediately following  his confirmation.

"We look forward to continuing our important work with him, Secretary Turner, and HUD staff on policies and initiatives that lower single-family and multifamily financing costs and increase homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans," Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit said. 

Hughes spoke before the Senate Committee Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in his confirmation meeting on April 10. At the time, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., chair of the committee, offered his support and did the same again on Tuesday following the Senate vote.

"I'm confident he will advance President Trump's agenda – reforming failed federal housing policies, increasing accountability and making housing more affordable for all Americans," he wrote on social media platform X.

In a letter sent to the committee chairs prior to confirmation, Hughes also received support from several real estate trade groups, including the National Association of Realtors, National Association of Home Builders and the Manufactured Housing Institute. 

In Trump's current term, HUD has made headlines with rollbacks of Biden-era initiatives supporting fair housing laws and other activities focused on deregulation. The department was also a target of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, with Democrats and even HUD's own attorneys raising concerns about potential damaging effects to home finance operations. 

Hughes served at HUD during the first Trump administration, selected by then-Secretary Ben Carson to become his chief of staff. The two men held close ties, with Hughes actively working on Carson's 2016 presidential campaign. Like Carson at the time, Hughes appeared to hold little experience in housing finance prior to joining the department in 2017.   

Both men maintained those ties at the end of the first Trump term, with Carson later appointing Hughes to serve as president and CEO of the conservative think tank he founded, the American Cornerstone Institute. 

Current Secretary Turner has also openly talked about  his close relationship with Carson, citing him as a role model in his confirmation hearing early this year.