HUD chief showcases how private-public partnerships uplift economically neglected areas in Philly tour

Turner traveled to the City of Brotherly Love on Thursday to meet with local community and business leaders to discuss and tour recently revitalized areas of the city and Opportunity Zone projects, which are defined as economically distressed areas across the nation that incentivize investment and economic development through federal tax benefits to investors. Opportunity Zones were created under the first Trump administration through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. 

Turner served as the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during the first Trump administration, as well as led the Opportunity Zones Initiative. 

Now that Turner is serving as the secretary of HUD in the second Trump administration, he previewed his excitement over "Opportunity Zones 2.0" that will make the program "even better than before." 

"I'm very excited about the extension, the continuation of Opportunity Zones. And Opportunity Zones 2.0, if you will, and my estimation will be even better. So I'm looking forward to working with Sen. Tim Scott, Congress, the White House, and our private partners to make this even better than before," he said. 

Turner spent Thursday meeting with local leaders at the Philadelphia Housing Authority, before touring a grocery store built in a North Philadelphia neighborhood, Sharswood-Blumberg, that has historically been rocked by crime and economic struggles. 

The grocery store, called Grocery Outlet, is part of a mixed-use development project that came about after HUD announced a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Grant in 2020 that attracted an additional $517 million in private and public investments. The development includes a community center that houses the Philadelphia Housing Authority, a health clinic and additional housing. 

Turner also toured a newly completed building in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood, called The Battery, which is an Opportunity Zone Development that has provided nearly 200 apartment units nestled along the Delaware River with views of Philadelphia's skyline. The building is also home to a luxury boutique hotel called Riversuites at The Battery. 

The building previously served as a power plant that was built just after World War I, before it was shuttered and sat vacant for decades with no hope of revitalization due to its lofty costs and work to rehab, according to investors and local development leaders who joined Turner on his tour of the building. The building's prospects turned around in 2020, as the area's Opportunity Zone designation and tax incentives to preserve historic properties attracted $154 million in investments. 

Now, the building showcases modern living spaces, while preserving its turn-of-the-century architecture in an area of Philadelphia that had previously been neglected for housing and economic opportunities. 

"I'm very excited. We're here at the Battery in Philadelphia, which is an Opportunity Zone project. It's a mixed-use development. This is an old factory that they repurposed this building to bring mixed-use, economic development and community development using the Opportunity Zone initiative. I'm so excited to see," Turner told Fox News Digital from The Battery's rooftop, which boasts the energy plant's old smokestacks that have been transformed into private terraces. 

Turner explained to Fox Digital that developments in Opportunity Zones impact families and entire communities, while also rallying economic opportunities for private investors. 

"Homelessness is a big deal in our country," he said. "It went up 18% in the last year - over 770,000 people on one single night in January of 2024 were homeless, and that's unacceptable. With record funding coming from HUD, we still have a homelessness crisis in our country." 

"Public-private partnerships are vital to eradicating homelessness," he continued. "Faith-based institutions, nonprofit institutions that are doing the work on a daily basis, we have to partner. The federal government is not the answer. The federal government is a great partner, a great facilitator. But it's the private sector, it's faith-based, it's the nonprofits that really have their hands to the plow and their feet on the ground, that are doing the everyday work." 

Turner said illegal immigrants taking advantage of government-funded housing are "on notice" that he and HUD are prioritizing only Americans for housing. 

"Those that are here illegally, that are living in HUD-funded public housing, we're putting (them) on notice this is not acceptable," Turner said. "We will not have it anymore."

"At HUD, we only serve one out of four Americans that we should be serving, and that has to come to an end," Turner continued. "And so we're not only making it a priority, but we are making that our only priority, that American citizens will benefit from hard-working American taxpayer dollars."