ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administrative performance as a cabinet department. The vital work of HUD will become routine, without imagination and personal commitment. Many of the fundamental policies of HUD came from legislation carefully conceived and deliberately debated by the Congress. Numerous HUD laws require close program cooperation with other departments. If this program cooperation fails, HUD's programs fail. Moreover, an administration's general economic policies and the state of the economy affect HUD's programs in many important ways. Public understanding of urban problems and support for the remedies HUD is seeking to apply often mean the difference between their success and failure. The secretary must also understand the often very technical programs for which HUD is responsible as well as the nature and impact of other government programs not under HUD's jurisdiction. The HUD secretary must choose wisely the top political appointees and place each in the job he or she can do best.
