Senate Confirms Two HUD Assistant Secretaries

The Senate recently confirmed Hunter Kurtz to be HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Seth Appleton to be HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research (PD&R). Prior to the Senate confirmations, neither PIH nor PD&R had assistant secretaries during the Trump administration.

Kurtz most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. He also served in the White House as the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Council of Economic Advisers. “Public and Indian Housing oversees more than 3,000 public housing authorities across the country to ensure that our residents are living in safe, sanitary, and decent housing,” stated Kurtz. “This is truly an incredible job and I am honored to be in a position to help house millions of families each and every day.”

In addition to his federal service, Kurtz also served as the Deputy Director of Detroit’s Department of Housing and Revitalization. In that role, he managed the day-to-day operations of the department, implemented programs that helped homeowners, and oversaw reform of the department’s contract and procurement processes.

Appleton recently served as HUD’s Associate Deputy Secretary. Before that, he served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations. He previously served as chief of staff for United States Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. During his tenure in the House, Appleton focused on policy issues related to housing, financial services, small business, and agriculture among other subjects.