Appearing for the last time as the secretary of the Depart of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro began his farewell speech to HUD employees in typical Texas fashion, with a y’all.
Employees of HUD greeted Castro with a round of applause Wednesday afternoon as he wrapped up his last two and half years at the government agency.
The White House tapped Castro back in June 2014 to replace outgoing HUD secretary Shaun Donovan, who went on to serve as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Castro came to the office as the former Mayor of San Antonio, following in the footsteps of former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, who served as President Clinton’s HUD secretary.
Even though Castro only served as secretary for two and a half years, his departure also signals a major shift in the way HUD operates as it moves from a Democrat leader to a Republican leader.
Just one day after this, Castro’s likely predecessor, HUD Secretary nominee Ben Carson, had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee, and the path looks clear moving forward for him to be officially confirmed as the next HUD secretary.
“Those of you that have been here during a presidential transition know that every such change brings a new team with new perspectives and new priorities,” Castro said in his farewell speech. “The good news is that what that change looks like depends partly on you.”
So as the concludes his final days at HUD, Castro left employees with these three pieces of advice.
With deep gratitude, I delivered my farewell address to @HUDgov staff this afternoon. Here's what I said → https://t.co/ToKUCLLM2j
— Julián Castro (@SecretaryCastro) January 11, 2017
