Robert Kennedy’s Commitment to Service Inspired Formative Years, Says Housing’s Kenneth Holt

Secretary Kenneth Holt speaks to attendees at Maryland Housing Day on February 12.

Annapolis, MD – Maryland’s  new housing policy will reflect the Hogan-Rutherford administration’s focus on balancing the budget, but not at the expense of DHCD’s mission to help people, said Secretary-designate Kenneth C. Holt.

“The governor and I are both Baby Boomers and what we bring is a sensitivity to the needs of others,” Holt said on Feb. 12 during Maryland Housing Day. “What you will see is how creative we can be; how focused we can be; how helping we can be.”

Maryland Housing Day is an annual event sponsored by the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition to remind lawmakers of the importance of affordable housing – not only to the working families, senior citizens and special needs persons, but to the state’s economy.

The event offered stakeholders one of their first opportunities to meet the governor’s nominee to head DHCD. Holt, a former legislator and business owner with 25 years high-level experience in the financial markets, said community activism was a significant part of his formative development.

He recalled looking into the faces of mourners as he traveled with members of the Kennedy family after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. “It affected me,” he said. “It affected the course my life took and my commitment to civic activism.”

Holt told the gathering that he will look to find innovative ways “to accomplish more with what we have. But the merit of our programs and initiatives eventually will result in more funds.”