Scott Turner, a former pro football player and official during the first Trump administration, will make his case to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Scott Turner, a former pro football player and official during the first Trump administration, will face senators on Thursday as he makes his case to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Affordable housing advocates and housing policy experts have expressed mixed thoughts on President-elect Donald J. Trump’s decision to nominate Mr. Turner. Little is known about the specifics of Mr. Turner’s policy views, although he has been scrutinized in recent weeks over his previous comments about government assistance and his voting record as a state representative in Texas.
Mr. Turner, a cornerback who played in the N.F.L. for nine seasons, served as a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. During that time, Mr. Turner supported a bill that would allow landlords to refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance, and opposed another that would fund public-private partnerships to support the homeless, a ProPublica report found.
After making a long-shot bid for speaker of the Texas House, Mr. Turner did not seek re-election. He later worked on a federal initiative to drive investment to economically distressed areas as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Mr. Trump’s first term.
If confirmed, Mr. Turner would oversee an agency that provides vouchers and other rental assistance to millions of low-income households, distributes billions to help the homeless and enforces fair housing laws.
He is expected to face questions over how he would advance efforts to boost housing supply and support renters as Americans have grown frustrated over steep housing costs and the country continues to struggle with a shortage of homes.