Nader: US Urban Policy In Need Of An Overhaul

HUD has to be an important cog in any new efforts to establish a workable urban-metropolitan policy, but it is folly to look on the department as the centerpiece. Urban needs extend beyond affordable housing. Jimmy Carter was wise in broadening the scope to include other Cabinet offices in the urban policy mix, but he left HUD as the key decision maker. In the end the other Cabinet offices began to worry that their funds, staff and power would be eroded. And in such situations, the officeholders always decide to scuttle the ship. This bureaucratic hurdle has to be removed if we truly are interested in developing and managing an urban policy which stretches across the interconnected problems of housing, health, transportation, education, jobs and livable wages.