Pending Nominations: HUD, NCCB, FDIC, FHFB, SIPC

Statement

Pending Nominations: HUD, NCCB, FDIC, FHFB, SIPC

OPENING COMMENTS OF CHAIRMAN PAUL S. SARBANES

Chairman SARBANES. The hearing will come to order. The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee meets this afternoon to consider eight nominees who have been sent to us by the President for various positions in the Administration. I want to welcome all of the nominees, as well as their families and friends who may be here with us and to thank the nominees for appearing before the Committee this afternoon. We have decided to break this into three panels, so we will do those seriatim. Our first panel will consist of four nominees: Alberto Treviño, who has been nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Policy Development and Research; Carolyn Peoples, who has been nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity; Rafael Cuellar, nominated to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Consumer Co-operative Bank; and Michael Scott, also nominated to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank. Before I swear in the nominees, hear their opening statements, and then go to the question and answer period, I yield to Senator Allard for any statement or comments he may have.

Chairman SARBANES. We have been joined by Senator Reed. Did you have an opening statement, Senator Reed.

COMMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED
Senator REED. No, Mr. Chairman.

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Chairman SARBANES. Senator Reed.

Senator REED. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would like to thank the nominees for thier testimonies. Good luck as all of you take on these very important tasks Mr. Trevino, if I may ask a question. You will be charged with developing, monitoring, and supervising important research projects. I wonder what experience you have in the area of either conducting research or managing research? Could you elaborate?

Mr. TREVINO. Yes, I can answer that several ways. One, from the private-sector experience that I have in the development and planning of very large-scale projects, new communities, and working with developers such as Jim Rouse in Columbia and also in Reston, all of this is basic research because these were the state-of-the-art developments in the country at that time. And with General Electric, directing General Electric Foundation research grants to various universities, including Washington University, MIT, UCLA, University of Michigan, North Carolina, and these again were state-of-the-art research issues of large-scale new town development. Also, I have lectured or taught at many of the universities in this country—Michigan, North Carolina, Harvard, Berkeley, USC, and directed grants from other foundations to these universities.

Senator REED. So you have had a role in foundations awarding grants and research contracts?

Mr. TREVINO. With the GE Foundation, primarily. And then with the Ford Foundation, I was just an advisor to them.

Senator REED. There are a number of difficult issues that you will have to tackle. When I go through my State I hear continuous clamor for more production of units. In fact, people will comment, ‘‘We have vouchers and we cannot use them because they cannot find affordable houses.'' They do not have physically the number of units. Would increasing production be a focus of one of your policy or research initiatives?

Mr. TREVINO. As I stated, the approach that I generally take to a problem is to look at the problem a little bit more holistic, if you will, than the way it is been approached in the past. Housing production, barriers to housing, if you look at the Kemp Report, you could provide money to build housing, but the real problem is in implementing that program. In today's world, in most communities, if you make an announcement that you are going to build 100 to 200 units, whatever it might be, mixed-use, low-income, et cetera, the local community objects to those projects. It is very difficult to get projects approved in communities. That is called a NIMBY. That clearly can be a strategy. But from looking at an entire program, you have to evaluate and make a determination whether that is the most feasible direction to move in. And that would be part of the studies within PD&R.

Senator REED. Thank you. Ms. Peoples, you have a very significant responsibility, and I think you are going to take it on with the great passion you have done all your work throughout your life. But you cannot do it alone. I understand that there is a significant shortage of personnel in
the Office of Civil Rights. What are your plans now to mobilize more people to do the work that you are so committed to doing? Ms. PEOPLES. I agree that the Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity has been plagued by shortages in staff prior to the past 4 years. We are actively engaged in correcting that by trying to bring on additional staff to meet the demand, at least the problems that we are considering. In terms of meeting the challenges that are ahead, we must at least look to hiring additional people to fill those slots, particularly in the area of enforcement. Investigators are very much needed in the regional offices. And we are moving in that area at this point.

Senator REED. Thank you very much, Ms. Peoples and all of you for your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman SARBANES. Thank you.

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