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July 30, 2014 – Julián Castro was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Monday. He was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month in a vote of 71-26.

Castro most recently served as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. He will replace Shaun Donovan, who has been confirmed by the Senate as the next head of the Office of Management and Budget.

In June, Castro told the Senate Banking Committee he shares the panel's goals of protecting taxpayers and continuing access to mortgage credit in housing finance reform.

Without backing any specific legislative proposal, Castro told the committee he thinks taxpayers should have more protection than they have now under the current structure for government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also said the GSEs' current situation is unsustainable and that private capital should be in the first-loss position.

NAFCU has been in ongoing discussions with key lawmakers, HUD, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and White House and other administration officials on the future of housing finance. The association is working to ensure that any reform provides credit unions unfettered access to the secondary market for mortgage loans as well as fair pricing based not on loan volume, but loan underwriting quality.