Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner engaged in a tense exchange Thursday, with Gillibrand raising her voice and demanding Turner stop referencing the Biden administration and instead account for his own tenure.
During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Turner cited HUD data showing that in 2024, more than 771,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night—the highest recorded figure in U.S. history. He pointed out that this occurred despite record federal funding, saying, “So we have record funding, but yet we have an increase in street homelessness.”
Gillibrand interrupted, asking, “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 pressed further: “Do we have 700,000 homeless still, or is it a million, or [1.5 million]? So I get, you want to do things differently. And this committee will support you as long as the goals are good, but where’s the result?”
The New York Democrat also criticized Turner for the delayed release of HUD’s latest homeless report. “You’re in charge, you have a vision,” she told him. “Let’s see it. Let’s see the results.”
Turner, a former NFL player and Republican state representative from Texas, responded by invoking his faith and blaming past policies. “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,” he said. He added, “I have been here a little bit over a year. But you all had during the Biden administration, four years.”
Gillibrand cut him off again, shouting, “Stop talking about Biden, talk about your record.” She later called his remarks “so inaccurate, unhelpful, and doesn’t let this committee do our job.”
When asked about the delayed 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. [Regardless] of all of that, during the Biden administration, record funding,” he said, before Gillibrand again interrupted.
“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 said. “Just explain your record.” She then 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.”
HUD’s 2024 point-in-time report attributed the record high to “our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism.” Since taking office in February 2024, Turner has criticized the Biden-era “Housing First” policy, which prioritized placing homeless individuals in housing before connecting them to services. On Thursday, he reiterated, “I’m not talking to you about what I’ve heard. I’m talking to you about what I know. And what I do know: the Housing First model failed.”
The clash comes amid broader scrutiny of the Trump administration’s approach to homelessness and housing policy, with other officials facing questions about their records. For instance, similar tensions have emerged in hearings on defense and border security, such as when CENTCOM Chief faced Senate grilling over Iran ceasefire wavering, and Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks touted border security gains before his resignation.
