HUD is considering closing most of its field offices alongside layoffs targeting half the agency’s workforce

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is considering closing and consolidating its regional office in the Pacific Northwest and all but six of its field offices, a plan that would enable proposed layoffs to half the agency’s workforce and leave many states without a HUD presence.

Under federal law, HUD must run at least one office in each state to process loan and mortgage insurance applications, and at least 90 days before closing a field office, the agency is required to publish a cost analysis that studies how the closure would impact services and the local economy. HUD hasn’t done so, according to the Federal Register.

“Just indiscriminately deciding to make wholesale closures while usurping regulatory requirements is problematic,” said Antonio Gaines, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Council 222, the union that represents HUD employees. “That in itself is an issue, not to mention fallout from the closures.”

HUD was underfunded, understaffed and without access to adequate technology for decades leading up to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. 

Shortly after taking office, Trump tasked Elon Musk—the richest person on earth and a tech entrepreneur whose companies are frequent government contractors—with leading what had been a technology agency before the administration repurposed and renamed it the Department of Government Efficiency (DGE).

The department has since led cuts across the federal government in sync with a policy strategy known as Project 2025 that was developed by influential conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 calls for broad cuts to federal agencies, including their workforce, contractors and grant funding to nonprofits, local and state governments, and other longtime recipients of federal dollars, like research institutions. 

Since DGE’s cutting spree kicked off in January, Gaines said HUD has laid off about 300 probationary employees across the agency. (Workers who are new to a federal agency or position may be required to complete a probationary period of a year or longer, during which they have fewer workplace rights than other employees and usually can’t appeal terminations.)

HUD also has canceled contracts for fair housing organizations, training, updating the agency’s housing operations handbook and other services, said Juliana Bilowich, senior director of housing operations and policy for LeadingAge, an advocacy organization for aging services providers.

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Along with the recent layoffs and contract cancelations, HUD employees and affordable housing advocates worry field office closures would reduce access to HUD services, from housing assistance and disaster recovery to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan underwriting.

“This idea of closing field offices feels really personal to the housing providers and communities that have built up relationships with them over the years and rely on them to serve their local communities, and so this is really harmful and really hurtful,” Bilowich said. “We see this as just the beginning of an approach to dismantle and effectively halt these critical and effective affordable housing programs.”

Bilowich said service reductions at HUD tend to affect older adults who rely on the agency’s programs, including Section 202, which provides low-income people who are 62 or older with low-cost housing and services for independent living.

HUD won’t say how many offices it’s shutting down or how it will maintain services after the closures

On Wednesday, in response to an email asking which field offices HUD has selected to shut down and how the closures would affect the agency’s ability to provide services to the public, the agency sent a statement that said: “Reports or reports of reports are not accurate. … The department is exploring consolidation while continuing to prioritize service.”

HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett added Thursday: “No decisions have been made regarding field offices. Conversations are ongoing. Any reports stating or inferring that decisions have been made are inaccurate.”

Gaines said HUD employees have told him about plans to close field offices, but the agency itself hasn’t provided information on potential closures.

“Understand, we are operating in unprecedented times,” he said. “In previous years, we were able to talk to management officials and identify issues and forthcoming plans that would impact working conditions. This time around, it is radio silence. They’re not sharing any information with the union so we can negotiate the impact of their decision.”

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Lovett wouldn’t answer how many offices HUD is considering closing, but Bloomberg News’ CityLab reported Wednesday that the agency plans to close at least one of 10 regional offices—its Seattle, Washington site—and all but six local field offices. Under that plan, the remaining six field offices would be in Los Angeles, California; Jacksonville, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Anchorage, Alaska; Honolulu, Hawaii; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, CityLab reported.

HUD field office closures expected to slow or stop services

Gaines said HUD’s office closures could affect services like FHA mortgage underwriting and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which provides local and state governments with money for affordable housing development, homeless services, disaster recovery and other initiatives.

“If CDBG funds are frozen or cut back, it could have an impact on local communities and disaster recovery relief,” Gaines said. “If staff is reduced significantly, then our ability to serve those devastated areas would be further delayed than it already is.”

Last Monday, HUD notified AFGE it’s planning a reduction in force, a federal process for laying off employees and eliminating positions. The layoffs, which HUD expects to complete by May 18, are part of the agency’s goal to cut about 4,000 employees—about half of the agency’s workforce—according to a Council 222 press release.

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The release said the layoffs will affect HUD employees in the Office of Field Policy and Management at level 13 or below in the General Schedule system, which classifies and sets pay standards for federal positions. The system maxes out at level 15. 

“It’s not that they’re terminating positions at certain field offices,” Bilowich said. “They’re terminating those positions everywhere across all field offices, so even the consolidated ones won’t have those positions anymore.”

Field offices often handle routine, operational tasks, they said, like processing contract renewals and monthly subsidy payments to housing providers. Efforts to increase the production and preservation of affordable housing also take place in field offices, Bilowich said.

“All of that relies on HUD’s field staff,” they said, adding: “There’s a real concern here. … How will these things continue to happen? And the answer is that either they won’t or they’ll happen very, very slowly, which means it’s not efficient, so it will cost the federal government and taxpayers money, and it will serve older adults worse because transactions won’t happen, operations won’t happen.”

Contact Streetlight editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@streetlightnews.org. Follow her reporting on Bluesky or by joining our newsletter.

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Correction: This story was updated to correct an error involving the anticipated number of layoffs affecting HUD employees during the agency’s reduction in force announced last week. The layoffs will only affect Office of Field Policy and Management employees at level 13 or below in the General Schedule system, not 4,000 employees, as originally stated. These layoffs are part of a larger HUD goal to cut 50% of its workforce, or about 4,000 employees in all.