Plans to downsize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could leave some 34 states without local HUD staff to underwrite mortgages, as originally reported by Bloomberg, and Democrats in Congress are decrying the apparently impending office closures and workforce cuts to the agency.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), for one, noted Friday that HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development "has been slated to lose 84% of its staff." At a rally last week, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, contended there is "a crisis in this country, and we have got to be on the streets to say we will resist Elon Musk."
Earlier, Democrat leaders in the Senate warned that in their view, large cuts to HUD would result in U.S. housing development, community and economic development projects, and disaster recovery efforts being delayed or coming "to a grinding halt."
President Trump last week directed members of his Cabinet to cut federal employees at agencies under their jurisdiction, and said if they don't, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its leader, “special government employee” Elon Musk, will.
Among those Cabinet members is HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who has provided some clues as to his intentions for, and expectations of, the existing HUD workforce.
Regarding the coming federal workforce cuts, President Trump told Cabinet members essentially to separate the wheat from the chaff. “I want the Cabinet members to keep good people. I don’t want to see a big cut where a lot of good people are cut,” the President said, via a video Bloomberg posted of him speaking.
However, “the people that aren’t doing a good job, that are unreliable, don’t show up to work, etc., then those people can be cut,” Trump continued. “So we’re going to be watching them, and Elon and [DOGE] are going to be watching them, and if they [Cabinet members] can cut, it’s better.”
“If they don’t cut,” added the President, “Elon will do the cutting.”
As noted, Trump’s directive includes HUD Secretary Turner. Word came last month that HUD was preparing to slash up to half of its workforce.
At the time, that potential move was expected to leave the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), an agency within HUD that insures mortgages, untouched, but nonetheless to deeply affect the department’s core functions.
Turner's expectations for HUD workforce
Addressing HUD employees in February, Turner provided some insight on his expectations for the department. “I will tell all of you here at HUD and those that are listening, we have, bar none, the best team that led me through this process” of being confirmed as Secretary, he said. “Those of you all that are in the room, thank you all for showing up, by the way.”
Turner thanked HUD employees for their service, and noted, “I believe that leadership is built on trust” and referred to himself as “the new servant-leader of HUD.”
Recounting some of his experiences playing for the National Football League, Turner said, “When God takes you out of your comfort zone, you grow. You don’t grow in comfort. You don’t grow in complacency — complacency is a killer.”
“I don’t ever want to be comfortable or complacent, because then we’re not growing and we’re not learning, we’re not achieving in the way that we should,” he continued. “So be encouraged when you’re not comfortable, because that just means that you’re growing.”
Addressing the HUD workforce audience, Turner said, “I want to encourage everyone in here, I am a living witness: your circumstances do not define your opportunity or your ability to succeed. We don’t have a defeatist attitude, but we have a victorious attitude, no matter the difficulty.”
“We don’t have a victim or ‘woe is me’ attitude,” he emphasized, “but instead, we have an attitude that says, ‘We will be victorious, in spite of,’ and that’s what we want to share with the people that we serve.”
