Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner is revitalizing the private sector’s role in supporting economically struggling areas in the country that has been neglected for growth for decades, including a tour location in Philadelphia, where he saw massive development since his first serving in the Trump administration.
“The past five years have brought in $84 billion in private investment. One million people have been released from the poverty roll. The value of the home and opportunity zone has risen, but the rent has not risen. Therefore, the Opportunity Zone Initiative is not just about economic development, but also about community development.
Turner traveled to the City of Brotherhood on Thursday, meeting with community and business leaders, discussing recent urban community and opportunity zone projects, and toured the tour. This is defined as an economically struggling area that encourages investment and economic development through federal tax benefits to investors. Opportunity Zone was created under the first Trump administration through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Employment Act.
Turner served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during the first Trump administration, leading the Chance Zone Initiative.
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Secretary Scott Turner tours the Philadelphia battery. (Fox Digital)
Now that Turner is HUD’s secretary in the second Trump administration, he previewed his excitement for “opportunity zone 2.0” that will “make the program even better than before.”
“I’m very excited about expansion, the continued opportunity zone, and if you do, Opportunity Zone 2.0, and my estimate will be even better. So I look forward to working with Sen. Tim Scott, the Congress, the White House and private partners to make this even better than before,” he said.
On Thursday, Turner met with local leaders of the Philadelphia Housing Authority and patrolled a grocery store built in a North Philadelphia neighborhood that has historically been shaken by crime and economic struggles.
The grocery store, known as the grocery store, is part of a mixed development project that emerged after HUD announced a $30 million option grant in 2020, winning $517 million in private and public investment. The development includes the Philadelphia Housing Authority, a health clinic and a community center that houses additional housing.
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Secretary Turner will tour grocery stores in the once food desert area of Philadelphia. (Fox Digital)
Turner also toured the newly completed building in Philadelphia’s Fishtown area. This is an opportunity zone development that offered nearly 200 apartments along the Delaware River, offering views of the Philadelphia skyline. The building also houses a luxury boutique hotel called Battery Riversuit.
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The building previously served as a power plant built shortly after World War I, but before that, it was vacant for decades, and according to investors who joined Turner on tours of the building and local development leaders, they didn’t want to work for its lofty costs and rehabilitation. The building’s outlook improved in 2020 as the region’s opportunity zone designation and tax incentives to maintain historic property attracted $154 million in investments.
Secretary Turner will visit Philadelphia. (Turner/x)
Today, the building presents modern living spaces, preserving turn-of-the-century architecture in a Philadelphia area that was previously neglected for housing and economic opportunities.
“I’m very excited. We’re in the Battery in Philadelphia. This is an Opportunity Zone Project. This is a complex use development. This is an old factory that reused this building and brought about complex economic and community development using the Opportunity Zone initiative.
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“There’s living space here. There’s commercial space here. And people in the area can use this… 50 years this place has been dilapidated and closed. And now, through the investment of the opportunity belt… this is a prosperous place that Philadelphians can once again use,” he added.
Entrance to the Philadelphia battery. (Fox Digital)
Turner explained to Fox Digital that the development of the opportunity zone will affect families and the entire community, while also bringing together economic opportunities for private investors.
“Philadelphia has done a great job because it relates to the zone of opportunity… And I’ll say, and I’ll say, and I’ll say, and I’ll say, and I’ll say, and I’ll say, we are partners with our private development people about the extension of the zone of opportunity. Families are affected. America, and the zone of opportunity is a major factor in it,” he said.
The battery is located on the Delaware River and preserves its history as a power plant. (Fox Digital)
Philadelphia has been shaken up in recent years by crime, fentanyl addiction and homelessness. This was three issues that spiraled nationwide following the coronavirus pandemic. Turner emphasized in Fox News Digital that “government is not the answer” to issues related to the housing crisis, homelessness, drug addiction and crime in America, but that they need to instead act as a “partner” for the private sector, faith-based programs and nonprofit organizations.
“Homelessness is a big deal in our country,” he said. “Last year it rose 18%. Over 770,000 people were homeless on one night in January 2024, which is unacceptable.
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Secretary Turner tours the Philadelphia battery. (Fox Digital)
“Public-private partnerships are essential to eradicating homelessness,” he continued. “Faith-based institutions, nonprofit institutions that work on a daily basis, we must be partners. The federal government is not the answer. The federal government is a great partner and a great facilitator. But it is based on faith. It is based on faith.
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The HUD Secretary has joined the immigration blitz last week, including joining forces with Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem to form a new interagency initiative aimed at ensuring that federal housing funds do not go to illegal immigration. A pair of Trump officials signed a memorandum of understanding Monday, solidifying their partnership in an effort to end the “wasteful misappropriation” of taxpayer-funded public housing resources that previously benefited illegal immigrants that flooded the country under the Biden administration.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner traveled to Philadelphia on Thursday. (Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Turner said illegal immigrants using government-funded housing have “notified” that he and HUD are prioritizing Americans only for housing.
“People who live here illegally in HUD-funded public housing, we are aware that we are notifying us of this,” Turner said. “I don’t have it anymore.”
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“At HUD, we have to serve only one of the four Americans we should serve and that’s it,” Turner continued. “And not only is we making it a priority, but we also consider our only priority: American citizens benefit from the dollars of hardworking American taxpayers.”
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