HUD Secretary at Versailles court (in Florida)

“Risk? What’s Risk?” This response from David Siegel after receiving the strategy board game Risk, could be applied to a wider area of his life. Mr. Siegel is owner of Westgate Resorts, a vacation timeshare company. His company made him very rich and he wanted to display that opulence in a new home in Orlando, Florida.

It was to be modeled after the palace of King Louis XIV-Versailles. It was to be 90,000 square feet, cost $100 million, and become the largest home in America. Obviously, no one would term this affordable housing.

Prior to the 2007-8 housing crisis and recession Siegel and his company were flying high; selling timeshares to a wide variety of people, often getting them to overextend themselves to pay for it.

Expecting his good fortune to continue, Siegel overleveraged himself in the construction of Orlando Versailles. Now he joins the ranks of so many Americans, trying to save his dream from foreclosure.

Add into this ironic mix Shaun Donovan, Secretary of HUD. He and several of his HUD homes staffers attended the premiere of “Queen of Versailles” a documentary of the travails of building the edifice. Mr. Donovan then spoke to the audience, reminding them that it was a representation of what has been happening across the country, the only difference was scale. Affordable housing and home ownership continue to be the American dream, and HUD homes continues to work to provide it.