Kemp Vows to Rid HUD of ‘GOP Influence Peddlers’ : And ‘Make It Work for Poor, Needy’

WASHINGTON — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp pledged today to get “the Republican influence peddlers” out of his troubled department and work for improved opportunities for poor people to own their own homes.

In a well-received speech before the National Urban League’s annual conference here, Kemp defended his scandal-plagued agency, torn by extensive allegations of questionable practices and insider profiteering during the Reagan Administration, vowing to “make HUD work.”

“We’re going to make it work for the poor and the needy. We’re going to take the greedy and the consultants and the Republican influence peddlers out,” he said. “You can count on me to reform HUD from top to bottom. I’ve got the President on my side and I know I’ve got the American people on my side.

“I don’t want it to work for the Democratic National Committee; it shouldn’t work for the Republican National Committee. It’s got to work for the people.”

Kemp said he is working hard to make the agency “open for business.”

“Cleaning it out and making it work for poor people, not greedy people,” he said.

Interrupted by Applause

Kemp’s remarks were interrupted frequently by applause. The speech implicitly acknowledged what one league official called the government’s “meanness” and neglect of the problems of the poor and minorities during Reagan’s years as President.

Saying that “there is a burgeoning revolt on the greed that has dominated our national life,” Kemp said that HUD will work “on behalf of those who have been left behind.”

He lamented the lack of black home ownership--which the league has estimated will take more than 1,000 years to equal that of whites--and called for greater investment in new and rehabilitated housing.

Kemp urged an end to “the disgrace of red-lining,” the practice of lenders writing off impoverished areas as bad risks for mortgages. He also called for a reduction in taxes, both for the rich and poor, to spur the economy.

“We can’t have a country that is prosperous and poor,” he said.

Kemp recalled how in the 1950s and ‘60s, when he played professional football, he was unaware of the civil rights movement.

‘Revolution Unfinished’

“I didn’t realize that something was happening in America that would help complete the American Revolution,” he said. “That revolution is still unfinished.”

Noting that the Urban League has set a goal of racial parity by the year 2000, Kemp promised to roll up his sleeves in the effort.

“We’re 11 years away,” he said. “It’s time to get started.”

Before Kemp spoke, delegates observed a moment of silence to express concern for Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Tex.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus missing on an airplane flight in Africa.

“It is typical of Mickey that if a plane were missing and Mickey was on it, it would be on its way to northern Africa to help the poor and those who have been left out,” Kemp said.