Housing and Urban Development, United States Department of

Housing and Urban Development, United States Department of (HUD), established 1965 to coordinate and administer programs that provide assistance for housing and community development. The department assists in finding solutions to the problems of housing and urban development through state, local, or private action. It makes direct loans, insures mortgages, and provides housing subsidies, and it promotes and enforces equal housing opportunity. The secretary of the department has cabinet rank. Robert Weaver, the department's first head, was also the first African-American cabinet member in U.S. history.