Adrianne Todman: Supply, Disaster Recovery, Affordability Top of Mind
(Adrianne Todman; Image by Anneliese Mahoney)
DENVER–Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, spoke Oct. 28 at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Annual Convention & Expo, highlighting affordability, supply and responding to the recent spate of natural disasters.
The U.S. has seen some recent improvements in single-family home starts, she noted. And, she acknowledged that while multifamily construction has recently slowed, it put up very strong numbers last year.
Todman touted recent updates, like those to the 203(k) program, which will help buyers rehabilitate homes. She also cited the influx of federal government funds to cities and states to help invest in housing.
In a Q&A portion with Christine Chandler, 2025 MBA Chair-Elect, and Executive Vice President, Chief Credit Officer and Chief Operating Officer of M&T Realty Capital Corp., Baltimore, Todman pointed to some other ways HUD is promoting building.
For one, she said that HUD is collaborating on development with other federal agencies and departments.
“The federal government really has not participated in a conversation about how to reduce local barriers to building, which I’m sure many of you have encountered if you’ve been working with developers or developers yourself,” Todman said. “And so our program is called PRO Housing. It’s the very first time that we are now incentivizing localities to reduce those barriers, new zoning rules looking at innovative housing types like modular housing or 3D-printed houses, and all the things we’re going to need in order to meet the housing challenge that we have right now.”
But, she cautioned that younger generations still aren’t optimistic about their ability to buy a home–and it will require an industrywide effort to ease some of those issues.
“These young people don’t believe in institutions anymore, not just government, but you, too,” Todman said. “I need for all of us to be all in on this housing journey that we are experiencing. The entire housing ecosystem needs to be prepared to work in concert with each other, keeping our eyes focused on the big picture.”
Also notable for the industry is the recent series of natural disasters, including hurricanes Helene and Milton over the past month.
“We have all been focused also on making sure we’re building back communities after a disaster,” Todman said. While FEMA receives the first influx of money, to stabilize areas, HUD receives billions in funds to rebuild communities–ranging from housing to hospitals, schools and firehouses, Todman said.
“I sent a letter to our partners on [Capitol] Hill to remind them of the importance of making sure that we have those disaster recovery funds, because we know that you all will need our funds to rebuild those communities, as well,” Todman said.
Note to readers: Some early readers of this piece may have seen a photo that misidentified Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman. Newslink corrected the mistake online immediately upon learning of it. We regret the error.
