U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge travelled to Kansas City, Missouri on January 14, 2024, to deliver a sermon at the St. James United Methodist Church in honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Secretary Fudge was the guest of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (MO-5), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, part of the Financial Services Committee within the U.S. House of Representatives. During her sermon, she focused on Dr. King’s measures of a full life, as he referenced in his “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” sermon delivered in 1960 at the Unitarian Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In that biblically inspired talk, Dr. King recalled that life is comprised of three measures: length, breadth, and height. Given the backdrop of the political tumult and many challenges our nation and world face today, Secretary Fudge chose to home in on the length of life – not its longevity - but the force of a life to advance principles and ambitions against the ebb and flow of time. She urged us all, as Dr. King did, that when considering our life’s length, to never lose hope, to do what we can to help others, to love ourselves and our neighbors and to remember that at some point in life we are all called to a higher purpose and when that time comes, she implored us to answer and embrace that call.

Transitioning from the morning services and braving sub-zero weather, Secretary Fudge then took part in an afternoon radio interview with Steve Kraske, host of the public affairs show Up to Date that airs daily on local National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate KCUR 89.3 FM. She shared the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities on boosting wealth, expanding the supply of affordable housing, breaking down barriers to homeownership and combating homelessness. She also delved into questions related to “source of income” discrimination, generally aimed at households using tenant-based rental assistance like vouchers. Fudge noted that Kansas City is on the “right track” as city’s elected leaders ponder an ordinance that would make such discrimination illegal. After the interview, the Secretary joined Rep. Cleaver; HUD Great Plains Regional Administrator Ulysses Clayborn; Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas; Health and Human Services (HHS) Regional Director Joseph Palm; EPA Regional Administrator Meg McCollister; Missouri State Director of Rural Development Kyle Wilkens; Missouri State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Joe Aull; Kansas City 3rd District Councilwoman Melissa Robinson and Kansas City 3rd District-At-Large Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley in a roundtable discussion.

While many topics were raised over the afternoon, the main thrust of the Secretary’s comments were on federal agency collaboration, especially in the nexus between HUD, HHS, and the EPA in our common pursuit of economic justice in areas of the nation that face health threats from lead hazards and the need for climate resiliency. She also made clear that HUD takes very seriously the need to serve both rural and urban areas, and that HUD through its regional leadership was challenged to get out on the road and learn first-hand about the needs of the people HUD serves. Additional topics included local government officials’ need for a better understanding of the vast array of federal funds available to them to enact local housing and community development needs. Other issues addressed included ensuring that people of color are given the opportunity to re-develop their own communities, streamlining federal administrative requirements for funding programs to make it easier to deploy and leverage those sources with private funding, and to view all these matters through the lens of equity.

The day ended with closing remarks from Rep. Cleaver and a renewed sense of partnership and faith in the power of the federal government to fundamentally improve peoples’ lives when that power is shared, openly and transparently, by our elected, appointed, and civic leaders.

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