Trump picks NFL veteran Scott Turner to lead housing department
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US President-elect Donald Trump with Mr Scott Turner, who is the first black American picked for a Cabinet post in Trump’s second administration.
PHOTO: SCOTT TURNER/FACEBOOK
WASHINGTON – US President-elect Donald Trump is tapping Mr Scott Turner, a former National Football League (NFL) player, to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Mr Turner previously served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalisation Council in the first Trump administration.
The President-elect in a statement praised Mr Turner’s work in that post, saying he helped “lead an unprecedented effort that transformed our country’s most distressed communities”.
Mr Turner is the first black American picked for a Cabinet post in Trump’s second administration.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Mr Turner would head a department responsible for coordinating national policy addressing the country’s housing needs, including programmes to bolster affordable housing, provide assistance to low-income Americans, prevent discrimination in the market and spur urban development.
A former cornerback, Mr Turner played in the NFL for nine seasons with Washington, San Diego and Denver.
He went on to serve in the Texas House of Representatives.
Trump sparked a firestorm with his first-term pick for the HUD, famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson, with critics noting that he had no prior experience or connection to federal housing policy.
Dr Carson remains one of Trump’s most staunch defenders, helping the President-elect amplify his outreach to black voters during the last campaign.
Under Dr Carson, the HUD used so-called Opportunity Zones, which offered incentives to draw investments to economically distressed communities.
That effort drew opposition from those who said the incentives predominantly ended up benefiting wealthy developers.
Under Trump and Dr Carson, the agency also finalised a rule that civil rights groups said undercut efforts to prevent housing discrimination.
During his campaign, Trump regularly assailed Democratic-run cities, casting them as beset by crime and homelessness.
Trump has vowed to “ban urban camping” and create “tent cities” on “inexpensive land”, and bring in doctors and social workers. BLOOMBERG