Business First Not a lot of industry leaders have had the opportunity to sit down and talk about the multifamily housing industry with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Mel Martinez. It was clear from the moment that I shook hands with him that he is a straight-shooter who wants to get down to the details. “The job at HUD has a vertical learning curve,” explains Gary R. Eisenman, executive vice president at Related Capital Co. and former deputy federal housing commissioner. “In order to get things done, [you] have to understand substance, history and the political process you need to go through to make changes.”
When Martinez took office, he spent his first several months at HUD listening and learning all the intricacies of the department’s programs. “Rather than going on speaking tours in his first several months in office, Martinez decided to stay in-house and get a feel for what HUD is all about,” says Judd S. Levy, president of the Community Development Trust.
“That is encouraging,” says Levy. “I [would] rather wait six to nine months and have a well thought out plan then have him announce his policies in the first nine weeks.”
Waiting seems to be the general consensus in the industry. People are looking forward to what the secretary has to say, and are waiting to hear more of his policies before they judge him.
“Everything I heard about him is that he is smart and genuinely interested in problems and issues affecting the industry,” says Marilyn Melkonian, president of Telesis Corp. “He has the background to appreciate housing as a place-based way for families to prosper in America and that doesn’t mean just single-family.”
Martinez came to this country in 1962, when he was 16 years old, with 14,000 other children who fled Cuba as part of a Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Pedro Pan. He lived in two youth facilities and with two foster families before being reunited with his family in 1966.
Martinez’s experience includes working on the Florida Govenor’s Growth Management Study Commission, and chairing the Orlando Housing Authority. In addition, he was the chairman of Orange County, Fla., president of the Orlando Utilities Commission and was on the board of directors of a community bank.
“I think his experience is certainly sufficient to run HUD,” says Eisenman. “I’ve never met him, but everyone who has, has come away impressed with him as being knowledgeable and capable of handling the job well. Martinez has approached [the job] intelligently. He’s done nothing to date but run the place and deal with the issues as they come up. I think that is smart.”