March 24, 2022
The Honorable Charles Schumer
Majority Leader
United States Senate
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Re: Confirmation of Dave Uejio as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dear Senator Schumer:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our strong concern over the continuing delay in confirming David Uejio as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity plays a critical role within our civil rights enforcement infrastructure, both in setting policy within the agency and because of HUD’s work on the ground protecting communities across the country from discrimination. Mr. Uejio is highly qualified for this position, as demonstrated by his professional record and in his Congressional hearing. We urge the Senate to advance his nomination and confirm him without further delay.
As a number of us emphasized when writing to the Senate Banking Committee in August 2021, Mr. Uejio’s depth of expertise in fair lending and organizational management, along with his distinguished track record of public service, makes him an exemplary nominee to lead HUD’s fair housing work at this critical juncture. Currently, Mr. Uejio serves as the Acting Associate Director for Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the only federal agency whose sole charge is to protect consumers in the financial markets.
Under Mr. Uejio’s leadership earlier in the Administration as CFPB Acting Director, the Bureau laid out a clear path forward to restore its important supervisory role, elevated and strengthened its fair lending work, protected military families from abusive credit products and took important steps to address the growing housing instability crisis. Under his leadership, the agency also proposed a robust and comprehensive Section 1071 rule that would require the collection of data enabling stakeholders to identify and narrow racial and gender disparities in lending, and it issued new guidance clarifying that sexual orientation discrimination and gender identity discrimination are covered by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Mr. Ueijo has helped to position the Bureau to continue its important fair lending and consumer protection priorities. He has years of experience in agency leadership and in serving the public, including the key roles he has held at the CFPB since 2013 and his prior public service at the Department of Defense and the Institutes of Health.
We write again now to underscore the importance of confirming Mr. Uejio without additional delay. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) is instrumental in protecting individuals and communities across the country from housing discrimination, and must also be equipped to play an active role in setting policies to guide fair housing throughout HUD (including in each of the agency’s program areas). FHEO must be adequately staffed, resourced, and empowered so as to fulfill HUD’s mission of providing for fair housing, especially given the severe consequences of housing discrimination on quality of life, economic security and advancement, and community well-being. As Assistant Secretary for FHEO, Mr. Uejio will bring a high level of commitment and expertise to a critical role within government. We ask that the Senate take action to confirm him expeditiously, so that he can advance FHEO’s important work.
Sincerely,
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
727 Mgt LLC
Affordable Homeownership Foundation, Inc.
AIDS Alabama
Americans for Financial Reform
Black Women’s Wealth Alliance
BSI/AfDiDi
Builders of Hope CDC
California Coalition for Rural Housing
Ceiba
Center for Disability Rights
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
Center for Responsible Lending
Centre for Homeownership & Economic Development Corporation
Clarifi
Communities First, Inc.
Community Growth Fund
Community Link
Community Outreach Training Center Inc
CommunityWorks in West Virginia
Consumer Action
Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, Inc.
Devotion USA, Inc.
Equality California
Fair Finance Watch
Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Inc.
Georgia Advancing Communities Together, Inc.
Goldenrule Housing & Community Development Corp
Henderson and Company
Homeownership Council of America
Homes on the Hill, CDC
Housing on Merit
Housing Oregon
Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative
JOVIS
Liberation in a Generation
Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition
National CAPACD
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Housing Law Project
National Housing Resource Center
Neighborhood Improvement Association
Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance
Olive Hill Community Economic Development Corporation, Inc
People’s Opportunity Fund
Piedmont Housing Alliance
Pima County Community Land Trust
Prosper Waco
Prosperity Now
Real Estate Education And Community Housing Inc
REBOUND, Inc.
Revolving Door Project
Silver State Equality-Nevada
South Dallas Fair Park ICDC
Southern Dallas Progress Community Development Corporation
TCH Development, Inc
The Cherry Community Organization
Town of Apex
United Housing, Inc.
Urban Land Conservancy
WITH ACTION
Woodstock Institute
Working In Neighborhoods
