Two thoughts.
1). This is the beginning of the campaign to increase awareness of Julian Castro nationally. His career is being managed so he can be the first Hispanic President in the same way Obama quickly rose from obscurity. Expect him to be Hillary’s running mate in 2016. If not he’ll be running for the top spot in 2020 (assuming Hillary doesn’t serve two terms.
2). The GOP Congress can defund HUD or any of its programs any time it wishes. However the real estate and developer friends of Bush, Boehner, and McConnell siphon billions from the contracts to build the housing. Hence, another Obama decree will be fully funded by the GOP Congress.