HUD Secretary dodges question on VP run, touts wiser approach to home ownership

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro insisted on Jan. 13 that he just wants to do the best he can in a role he’s held for nearly six months, after being asked at a National Press Club Newsmaker if he would consider a vice presidential run alongside Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I’m trying to do a great job at HUD,” he said, but added that Clinton “will do enormous good” should she become the next U.S. president.

Speculation has surrounded Castro since the summer, when The Washington Post reported that Clinton was fond of, and cultivating ties with, the 40-year-old Texan.

“I don’t know what my future will hold” in two years’ time, Castro later said, when asked if he might run for governor in his home state. “We’ll see what happens.”

For now, his focus is on ensuring Americans have the chance to own a home, and providing them with access to credit that is “sensible,” he said.

“The opportunity of home ownership is so powerful [and] a source of pride… and wealth,” Castro stressed in his prepared remarks. But he also pledged there wouldn’t be a return to the ways that fuelled the housing crisis, and said the Obama Administration will “do it better” by working with lenders to expand access to credit, and making home ownership more affordable.

“The fact is, in 2015, it’s too hard [to get a home loan],” Castro said. “The housing market is missing out on 1.2 million loans every year because credit is so tight.”

For those who already qualify for a loan, Castro highlighted the president’s recent announcement that the Federal Housing Administration will reduce its annual mortgage insurance premiums by half a percentage point at the end of January.

“Nearly 400,000 credit-worthy borrowers were priced out of the housing market in 2013 because of high premiums,” he said, adding that the Administration’s new policy will save two million borrowers some $900 per year, over the next three years.

HUD also launched a counselling office to provide assistance on issues ranging from a first-time home purchase to refinancing and renting.

Castro said the president remains committed to housing finance reform with the hope “to find a sensible way to address this [with Congress] in 2015,” in order to “get taxpayers off the hook” when lenders make bad loans.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a renter,” Castro said, but noted that home ownership “leads to stability [and] security,” and pointed to cities like Portland and Denver - alongside the major urban hubs across the country - where prices are continuing to rise.

“[Our] goal is to help build wealth, not detract from it,” he said.