The White House is opting to promote from within for the No. 2 spot at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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President Donald Trump nominated Matt Jones as assistant secretary of HUD and commissioner at the Federal Housing Administration. If confirmed by the Senate, Jones would work under HUD Secretary Scott Turner as the agency is remodeled to align with White House priorities.
Since March 2025, Jones has been the deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at HUD. Prior to that, he worked on government housing finance at the Mortgage Bankers Association, which endorsed Jones last week.
“Matt brings an impressive combination of hands-on mortgage industry experience, deep knowledge of government housing finance, and a strong understanding of how FHA programs can better serve homebuyers, renters, and lenders,” MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement last week.
As FHA commissioner, Jones would also oversee the government’s single-family, multifamily and healthcare mortgage insurance programs.
Jones’ nomination was sent to the Senate on Sept. 14 and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The Senate is in session through Oct. 2 before going on recess through Election Day. It is unclear if and when Jones will get a vote out of committee.
The nomination also has the backing of the National Apartment Association, National Association of Realtors, National Housing Conference, and National Council of State Housing Agencies, Multifamily Dive reported.
Prior to working for MBA, Jones was a senior adviser at Amerifirst Home Mortgage, worked briefly as senior counsel for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and spent four years in the same role for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, according to his LinkedIn profile.
HUD has been on the front line of White House policy pivots meant to reposition federal aid programs. Most recently, it updated rules to make it easier for private capital to be used in public housing, but it has also been at the center of more controversial changes.
In May, the agency partially rolled back environmental review rules for large projects receiving federal dollars. A month earlier, the agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to roll back energy-efficiency standards in building codes.
In January, HUD notified landlords that they had roughly 30 days to prove the citizenship status of roughly 200,000 tenants across the U.S. or risk losing federal aid, and in February, it said it planned to stop families with mixed immigration status from receiving housing aid.
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