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HUD, already hurt by the government shutdown, is also facing management challenges from an exodus of top talent that’s causing performance and accountability issues. The recent departures of HUD Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude and Ginnie Mae Acting President Michael Bright are just the latest exits by key housing officials, both in and outside of HUD.

President Trump recently signed an executive order establishing the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. The council will be chaired by HUD Secretary Ben Carson. It consists of representatives from 13 federal member agencies. And the council will consider legislative proposals and undertake regulatory reform to remove barriers to revitalization efforts and present the president with options to encourage capital investment in economically distressed communities.

Earlier this fall, HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its annual report on the top management challenges facing HUD in 2019. It identified six specific issues that, according to the report, “impact HUD’s ability to meet the needs of its beneficiaries and protect taxpayer dollars.” The six management challenges identified by the OIG are:

According to the latest national estimate by HUD, homelessness in the U.S. remained largely unchanged in 2018. HUD’s 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that 552,830 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2018, an increase of 0.3 percent since last year. Meanwhile, homelessness among veterans fell 5.4 percent and homelessness experienced by families with children declined 2.7 percent nationwide since 2017.

HUD recently announced it will speed federal disaster assistance to the State of California and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes in areas affected by wildfires. President Trump issued a major disaster declaration for Butte, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties.

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) recently released a report called Housing America’s Older Adults 2018. It says that more than half of the nation's households are now headed by someone at least 50 years of age. It finds that nearly a third of households age 65 or older (9.7 million) pay at least 30 percent of their income for housing, and more than half of these pay over 50 percent.

HUD recently announced that veteran homelessness in the U.S. continues to decline. HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report finds the total number of reported veterans experiencing homelessness in 2018 decreased 5.4 percent since last year, falling to nearly half of the number of homeless veterans reported in 2010.

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally published a proposed rule that would add Section 8 rental assistance, public housing, and other programs to a list of public benefits DHS considers when it attempts to ensure that those seeking to enter and remain in the United States either temporarily or permanently can support themselves financially and will not be reliant on public benefits.

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a fair housing bill (AB 686) that will require California cities and counties to affirmatively further fair housing. This law came about as a reaction to HUD’s rollback of the Obama administration’s affirmatively furthering fair housing mandate. Starting on Jan. 1, 2019, hundreds of cities, counties, and state agencies in California will have to take proactive measures to fix housing inequality on the basis of race, national origin, disability, and other protected classes.

The Social Security Administration recently announced that the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 2.8 percent in 2019. The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 62 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2019. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on Dec. 31, 2018. The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.