United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of the United States of America
Seal of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Flag of the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Incumbent Julian Castro since July 28, 2014
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Style	Mr. Secretary
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	The President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	42 U.S.C. § 3532
Formation	September 9, 1965
First holder	Robert C. Weaver
Succession	Twelfth in the United States Presidential Line of Succession
Deputy	Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Salary	Executive Schedule, level 1
Website	www.HUD.gov

The United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the President's Cabinet, and Twelfth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on September 9, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act (Pub.L. 89–174) into law.^[1] The Department's mission is "to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination."^[2]

Robert C. Weaver became the first African American Cabinet member by being appointed to the position. The department was also the first Cabinet department to be headed by an African American woman, Patricia Roberts Harris, in 1977. Henry Cisneros became the first Hispanic HUD Secretary in 1993.

Julian Castro was confirmed by Senate on July 9, 2014 and assumed office on July 28, 2014, succeeding Shaun Donovan who was nominated to be the next Director of the Office of Management and Budget.^[3][4]

Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development

Parties

      Democratic       Republican

Status

  Denotes acting Secretary

No.	Portrait	Name	State of Residence	Took Office	Left Office	President(s)
1		Robert C. Weaver	New York	January 18, 1966	December 18, 1968		Lyndon B. Johnson
2		Robert C. Wood	Massachusetts	January 7, 1969	January 20, 1969
3		George W. Romney	Michigan	January 22, 1969	January 20, 1973		Richard Nixon
4		James T. Lynn	Ohio	February 2, 1973	February 5, 1975
							Gerald Ford
5		Carla A. Hills	California	March 10, 1975	January 20, 1977
6		Patricia R. Harris	District of Columbia	January 23, 1977	September 10, 1979		Jimmy Carter
7		Maurice E. Landrieu	Louisiana	September 24, 1979	January 20, 1981
8		Samuel R. Pierce	New York	January 23, 1981	January 20, 1989		Ronald Reagan
-		J. Michael Dorsey (acting)		January 20, 1989	February 13, 1989		George H. W. Bush
9		Jack F. Kemp	New York	February 13, 1989	January 20, 1993
10		Henry G. Cisneros	Texas	January 22, 1993	January 20, 1997		Bill Clinton
11		Andrew M. Cuomo	New York	January 29, 1997	January 20, 2001
-		William C. Apgar (acting)		January 20, 2001	January 24, 2001		George W. Bush
12		Mel Martinez	Florida	January 24, 2001	December 12, 2003
13		Alphonso Jackson	Texas	December 12, 2003	April 1, 2004
				April 1, 2004	April 18, 2008
-		Roy A. Bernardi (acting)	New York	April 18, 2008	June 4, 2008
14		Steve Preston	Illinois	June 4, 2008	January 20, 2009
-		Brian D. Montgomery (acting)		January 20, 2009	January 26, 2009		Barack Obama
15		Shaun Donovan	New York	January 26, 2009	July 28, 2014
16		Julian Castro	Texas	July 28, 2014	Incumbent

Living former Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development

George W. Romney was sworn in as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on January 22, 1969, with President Richard Nixon in attendance.

As of May 2016, there are eight living former Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development, the oldest being Maurice E. Landrieu (served 1979-1981, born 1930). The most recent Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to die was James T. Lynn (served 1973-1975, born 1927), on December 6, 2010.

Name	Term of office	Date of birth (and age)
Carla A. Hills	1975–1977	January 3, 1934
Maurice E. Landrieu	1979–1981	July 23, 1930
Henry G. Cisneros	1993–1997	June 11, 1947
Andrew M. Cuomo	1997–2001	December 6, 1957
Mel Martinez	2001–2003	October 23, 1946
Alphonso Jackson	2004-2008	August 9, 1945
Steve Preston	2008-2009	August 4, 1960
Shaun Donovan	2009-2014	January 24, 1966

References

1. "HUD History". U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
2. "Mission". U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
3. Jon Prior (July 9, 2014). "Julian Castro confirmed as secretary of Housing and Urban Development". Politico. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
4. Gillman, Todd J. (25 July 2014). "Julián Castro to take office Monday as Housing secretary". Dallas News.