HUD Secretary Steps Down

On March 31, 2008, Alphonso Jackson announced that he would be stepping down as the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary. His last day serving as Secretary will be April 18, 2008, according to a press release from HUD. He states that he is leaving to "attend more diligently to personal and family matters."

Jackson has been under investigation for two years involving allegations that he had been awarding contracts according to political affiliation. In early 2008 the Philadelphia Housing Authority sued Jackson as well, stating that through him, HUD had pulled part of their funding after they refused to make a deal with one of his friends. HUD has released official statements denying all allegations.

Last week U.S. Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Patty Murray (D-WA), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development had called publicly for his resignation, saying they had written a letter to President Bush.

Jackson has been a part of the Bush administration since June of 2001, joining as HUD's Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer. On March 2004 he was unanimously confirmed as the 13th Secretary of HUD, and is the only HUD Secretary to run a public housing agency and serve as chairman of a redevelopment authority.