Trump's HUD pick plans to boost 'Opportunity Zones' for housing. Will more CT units get built?

Jan. 23—President Donald J. Trump's pick to lead housing development intends to lean into the Opportunity Zones program created in Trump's first term, which dangled big tax incentives for developers and saw mixed results in Connecticut.

Soon after taking office Monday, Trump signed an executive order on "emergency price relief" for families that addresses the cost of housing, but without laying out specifics. Scott Turner, Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, gave a sneak peak of administration priorities last week during a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, but stuck to broad themes.

HUD oversees the Federal Housing Administration and Ginny Mae, the Government National Mortgage Association which provides mortgage insurance to encourage lenders to issue loans. HUD also has rental assistance programs for tenants with income constraints; an office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to investigate discrimination complaints; and programs addressing homelessness.

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Turner told senators he hopes to find ways to adjust the Opportunity Zones tax incentive program created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage more housing in those zones, with Turner calling the program "tremendous" in its early impact. Turner oversaw the program during Trump's first term in office, with Ben Carson housing secretary in the White House cabinet.

Just over 70 districts in Connecticut qualify for tax incentives under the Opportunity Zones program, with half of them drawing investments in the program's first three years, according to a study by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis. Rhode Island led the Northeast with 64% of its Opportunity Zone triggering developments as of 2020.

"Obviously in every policy, every piece of legislation and every program that has been successful, there's always things you can tweak," Turner told senators during his confirmation hearing, referencing Opportunity Zones while drawing an analogy to film studies ahead of games during his days in the NFL. "We have the first round of Opportunity Zones, so we have a lot of film on it and the improvements that we could make. Take the successes of it, and make it better."

Between 2017 and 2020 during Trump's first term in office, the United States added 3.46 million units of housing for a 2.5% increase, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, slightly behind the pace of his predecessor, Barack Obama in his second presidential term.

During the Biden administration years through the third quarter of 2024, the U.S. housing stock grew by another 5.78 million units for a 4.1% gain, with some of those projects having gone through permitting and approvals during Trump's first term.

"Given what we know about Scott and the Trump administration, it's certainly going to be an emphasis on free-market solutions — and I think there's a lot there," said David Rich, CEO of the Bridgeport-based Housing Collective which advocates for affordable housing in Connecticut. "How much they are willing to work with local communities or states, I'm not sure. But the idea of free markets and incentivizing and really letting developers just go at it — I'm all for that."

Turner said he does not expect any significant increase in HUD funding to states and communities. Connecticut municipal housing authorities received $42.4 million in capital fund allocations from HUD in the 2024 fiscal year to develop or renovate public housing, according to department documents. That's a $334,000 reduction from fiscal 2023.

"What I do support is maximizing the budget that we do have," Turner said during last week's confirmation hearing. "HUD's budget is nearly $70 billion at this point, and we're still not meeting the need we are supposed to be meeting, so I would like to take inventory."

Turner acknowledged the challenges that face developers, from state and local regulations to high interest rates that make construction loans more expensive. U.S. Sen. Chris Hollen, D-Maryland, told Turner that any broad-based tariff policy could work against Trump's vow to improve housing availability and affordability, given reliance by builders on lumber imports from Canada and China, and other imported construction supplies.

For Rich, construction should be job No. 1 in Connecticut and nationally, however it can be made to happen.

"Paramount is just building," Rich said. "We have a deficit of just over seven million units throughout the country. No nonprofit ... or affordable housing trust fund is going to develop that. We need the private sector."

© 2025 The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.). Visit www.thehour.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.