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Since President Donald Trump returned to office and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk was tapped to lead a spree of federal government cuts, departments across the federal government have faced massive overhauls and layoffs.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is responsible for national policy and programs that address housing needs and enforce fair housing laws, is no different. Trump-appointed HUD Secretary Scott Turner has been reviewing HUD’s charge as an agency and considering cuts to a variety of offices within the department.
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During Trump’s first term as President, he and his Administration repeatedly proposed massive cuts—including the slashing of entire affordable housing programs. But things seem even more heightened now.
“In the previous go-around with Trump, there were very sharp proposed reductions and program eliminations, but Congress did not approve them. Now, we have DOGE, and they are basically undermining the capacity of the agency to fulfill its mission,” says Alex Schwartz, professor of urban policy at the New School. When asked how the department is faring, he replies: “In one word: Badly.”
Turner has not only embraced DOGE’s mentality of massive cuts to government spending, but has launched his own DOGE taskforce within HUD to “identify and eliminate waste” within the department.
On March 11, HUD and Turner showed their loyalty to Trump’s political goals when they rejected a draft version of what Schwartz calls a “routine request for disaster recovery assistance” from the city of Asheville, North Carolina, as the city continues its efforts to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
The rejection was based on the fact that the city’s recovery plan included a desire to “prioritize assistance for Minority and Women Owned Businesses (MWBE),” which HUD argued was not compliant with Trump’s January Executive Order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” that effectively dismantled diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the federal level and efforts that are federally-funded.
Read More: What Is DEI and What Challenges Does It Face Amid Trump’s Executive Orders?
“HUD looks forward to helping thousands of North Carolinians rebuild after Hurricane Helene by directing funding assistance to impacted businesses, non-profit organizations, and neighborhoods,” Turner said in a statement. “Once again, let me be clear, DEI is dead at HUD. We will not provide funding to any program or grantee that does not comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”
Beyond political changes in the department, the financial changes and cuts, Schwartz says, could undercut much of HUD’s major charges, including the enforcement of fair housing and the development of affordable housing. This contrasts the fact that Trump ran on affordability throughout his campaign.
“HUD is not a high profile agency, and frankly, most of its operations have gone to sustaining existing prior budget commitments, housing, and rental assistance. There’s been very little growth over the last decade or more,” Schwartz says. Where HUD is looking to cut is “a very small part of the federal budget,” he continues, adding that many small organizations are “highly dependent” on the department’s financial assistance.
Here’s how the Department of Housing and Urban Development is faring under the Trump Administration so far.
Staff and field office proposed cuts
As various departments across the federal government have encountered severe staff cuts, HUD is bracing for mass layoffs—in addition to the probationary employees who have already been fired—as Turner promises to reduce “waste” at the department in a similar fashion to Musk’s DOGE.
The exact number of cuts have yet to be fully finalized by the department, but according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), these cuts could include 50% of staff in the HUD office that administers vouchers, public housing, and Native American housing programs, which together help 7 million people afford housing. It could also impact 44% in the office that oversees the project-based rental assistance program, 84% in the office that administers homelessness assistance and grants that help communities build affordable housing and recover from disasters, and 77% in the office that enforces fair housing laws.
“HUD is taking inventory of every program and process to determine when and where the department can be more efficient….this is not a bad thing…change is good,” said Turner in a video posted to social media. “We are taking a surgical approach and making sure we retain top talent and institutional knowledge so that we can best serve the American people.”
Antonio Gaines, the president of AFGE National Council 222, a union that represents HUD employees, told Bloomberg Law the Trump Administration was planning to terminate 50% of HUD’s workforce, including in departments that enforce civil rights law and rebuild after disasters.
“I think there’s a really strong evidence base that a lot of what HUD does is really effective in reducing homelessness and helping people afford housing,” says Will Fischer who authored the report for CBPP. “Those programs only reach a fraction of the people who need help because of funding limitations, so there’s a really strong case to expand them. But these costs are going to go in the opposite direction by disrupting and undermining.”
Margaret Salazar, a career and political housing expert who worked for 12 years at HUD under three different Administrations believes that these programs will all still exist and distribute funding to communities around the country, but will be less effective with less personnel to work within said local communities.
“I think something that people might not realize about HUD that’s really unique is that half of HUD’s staff is actually in the field offices,” Salazar says. “It’s really because of the organization’s connections on the ground to local governments, nonprofits, and housing authorities and to tribes.”
On March 5, Bloomberg reported plans to close dozens of field offices across the U.S. However, there is a certain layer of protection expected, as U.S. housing law requires that HUD maintain at least one field office in every state in order to process applications so the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)—which is also set to have major staff and budget cuts—can underwrite mortgage insurance for buyers.
Salazar says her former colleagues in the HUD headquarters and in the field office remain confused about what is currently underway.
“They say they’re not getting any clear direction or justification to what will or won’t be cut. There’s a lot of fear,” she claims. “I was talking to a colleague who said that normally when you’re facing [a] layoff, it’s a personal issue. But when you’re a federal employee and you’re getting laid off, and there’s no real clear justification for that, you’re also worried about the housing projects [being worked on], so you are carrying that load as well.”
Contract cuts to nonprofits and a loss of grants
The Trump Administration has begun terminating grants to organizations that enforce the Fair Housing Act, has cut workforce from HUD, and threatens to cut more. It has also stalled at least $60 million in funding largely intended for affordable housing developments nationwide, and halted HUD’s $1 billion Green and Resilient Retrofit Program that helps preserve affordable housing, according to the Associated Press.
Some of the $60 million funds were intended to go to small community nonprofits that develop affordable housing in Section 4 programming—which is meant to benefit individuals and families with low incomes. Enterprise Community Partners is one of the intermediaries that has deployed Section 4 grants to hundreds of organizations across the U.S., along with LISC and Habitat for Humanity.
On Feb. 26, Enterprise Community Partners received a notification that HUD intends to terminate its Section 4 nonprofit capacity building grants and technical assistance program.
“Make no mistake: Today’s decision will raise costs for families, hobble the creation of affordable homes, sacrifice local jobs, and sap opportunity from thousands of communities in all 50 states,” Enterprise president and CEO Shaun Donovan, former HUD Secretary, said in the group’s statement. “We intend to pursue every avenue to ensure these vital programs are not torn away from the neighborhoods and working Americans who benefit from them.”
Salazar is CEO of REACH, a nonprofit affordable housing developer in Oregon and Washington State. She reports that two of REACH’s projects that were financed by an award from HUD have been stalled due to funding freezes from the federal government. Salazar says the $4.5 million may just be a “tick on a line” for HUD, but for her organization, it jeopardizes the future of one property designated for seniors and another designated for people with disabilities.
“I think the one thing that housing developers need is certainty, so that we can plan out our timeframe and start moving dirt on projects,” Salazar says. “That’s a certainty we [currently] don’t have.”
Also concerning to Salazar is the possible termination of the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which she says is “one of the only really significant sticks and bricks housing investments that HUD received in the last several years.”
The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which as a part of the Inflation Reduction Act, works to provide direct loans and grants to fund projects that improve energy, water efficiency, or climate resilience of affordable housing.
“HUD helps to ensure Americans have access to fair and affordable housing. The previous Administration’s extreme energy efficiency crusade diverted valuable resources, including funding, from the department’s mission,” a HUD spokesperson tells TIME in an emailed statement. “The department is evaluating options to ensure rural, tribal and urban communities have the resources they need, which are not solar panels.”
Impact on fair housing efforts
On Feb. 27, HUD and DOGE terminated 78 grants in 33 states totaling more than $30 million that provided congressionally-approved funding for fair housing organizations, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA).
Rather than developing housing, these nonprofits work to combat housing discrimination, enforce fair housing laws, and educate people on their rights.
In response, four fair housing groups—Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, Fair Housing Council of South Texas, and the Housing Research and Advocacy Center—sued HUD and DOGE over cancelling contracts under the Fair Housing Initiatives (FHIP), arguing that HUD acted arbitrarily by failing to provide adequate reasoning for its decision. All four plaintiffs are members of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
“The cancellation of [the plaintiffs’] FHIP grants has caused an immediate and devastating impact. They have had to shutter programs, terminate services, lay off staff members, and shrink their core activities,” the lawsuit states. “Many class members operate in states where no other organization engages in such work, and many serve communities that are often overlooked and underserved: rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, immigrant groups, veterans, and people with disabilities.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, released a statement on Feb. 27 addressing Turner terminating the anti-discrimination housing rule. “At a time when America is experiencing a full-blown housing crisis and record levels of housing discrimination complaints, this outright assault on civil rights takes us back to the days when the federal government rubber stamped segregation and discrimination,” the statement read.
On March 3, Waters hand-delivered a letter to Turner and led an event outside HUD’s main offices in Washington, D.C., to “sound the alarm on how Trump and DOGE’s actions will worsen our nation’s housing and homelessness crisis and exacerbate discrimination in housing.”
Meanwhile, on March 17, Warren and Waters were joined by 106 Congressional Democrats in sending a letter to Turner “demanding answers regarding recent actions taken by the Trump Administration to gut enforcement of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and other housing-related civil rights laws.”
Schwartz says the defunding of these fair housing groups “signals” to voters that “discrimination is an issue that the federal government is not concerned about… and it’s certainly not going to help educate people about their rights.”
Turner responded to the letter and statements penned by Warren and Waters during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, saying that HUD “will uphold the law” and is “committed to uphold[ing] the Fair Housing Act.”
A new plan for affordable housing
Despite cuts under the Trump Administration, Secretary Turner and Trump have outlined ways that they hope to address the housing crisis.
One of their strategies is to build homes on some of the 650 million acres of federal land as a way to face the housing shortage. The task force will be led by Turner and HUD as well as the Interior Department, per an announcement made by HUD on March 17.
Turner and Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about their task force, stating that “America needs more affordable housing” and “making federal land available” will make it happen. They said “overlooked rural and tribal communities” will be at the center of the task force.
“Historically, building on federal land is a nightmare of red tape—lengthy environmental reviews, complex transfer protocols and disjointed agency priorities. This partnership will cut through the bureaucracy,” Turner and Burgum wrote.
