The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on October 30, 2025 held a hearing on the nomination of Frank Cassidy to be Federal Housing Administration Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

If approved by the Senate for this role, Mr. Cassidy, who was nominated on August 1 for the position, would oversee HUD’s largest office.

The Office of Housing is responsible for the oversight and administration of project-based rental assistance, including Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, and the project-based programs of the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, and HUD’s housing counseling programs.

Among other functions, FHA includes the Office of Residential Care Facilities that administers Section 232 mortgage insurance for new construction and substantial rehabilitation of residential care facilities, mortgage insurance programs for both single- and multifamily housing, and Section 221(d)(3) and (d)(4) multifamily mortgage insurance and construction loans (respectively).

Asked by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) how he’d spur multifamily financing, Mr. Cassidy said he would speed up the processing time for Section 221(d)(4) financing to create more units.

After Senator Bernie Boreno (R-OH) said that housing has become more affordable under President Donald Trump and that Democrat-led states have the highest housing cost because of their policies that drive up housing costs, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) noted that nowhere in the United States can someone making minimum wage and working full time afford a one-bedroom apartment, a finding from the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual Out of Reach report.

The report also looks at national wage data for certain occupations, including home health aides and nursing assistants, and how these wages compare to what it actually costs to rent a one- or two-bedroom home.

A vote on Mr. Cassidy’s nomination has not been scheduled.

Watch the Banking hearing here.