WASHINGTON—The Senate has confirmed Marcia Fudge to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, placing the longtime Ohio lawmaker in charge of the agency just as Congress passed new benefits for renters and homeowners who have suffered economic losses amid the coronavirus pandemic. Fudge, who has represented parts of Cleveland and Akron in the House since 2008, is a former mayor and a longtime advocate for assistance for the needy. She said at her confirmation hearing in January that her first priority would be protecting the millions of people who have fallen behind on rent or mortgages due to loss of income during the pandemic, telling senators that “we cannot afford to allow people in the midst of a pandemic to be put in the streets.” Shortly after she was confirmed—and minutes before she resigned—Fudge took the last vote of her House career in support of the $1.9 trillion …