The union president representing Department of Housing and Urban Development employees said the full effects of agency layoffs would become clear in the coming days.
The cuts at HUD, which are expected to hit as much as half of its staff, are part of the Trump administration’s promise to shrink the size of the federal workforce. It’s a dramatic cut for an agency that serves millions of people across the country.
“I would suspect that those receiving services will be impacted within 15 or 30 days of these cuts taking effect,” Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE National Council 222 — the union that represents more than 5,000 HUD employees — told NOTUS.
The layoffs reportedly started on Feb. 14. Gaines said the reduction in staff is expected to primarily target employees in the offices of the Healthy Homes Program, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Policy Development and Research and Community, Planning and Development.
On Thursday morning, The New York Times reported that the administration plans to cut 84% staff from the office of Community, Planning and Development, reducing staff there from 936 workers when Trump’s second term began to just 150. The office is awarded tens of billions of dollars annually by Congress for disaster recovery, affordable housing development and homelessness initiatives.
HUD did not respond to a request for comment.
“We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America,” Secretary Scott Turner said in a video announcing a “DOGE Task Force” within the agency last week. “With President Trump’s leadership, business as usual, the status quo, is no longer the posture that we will take, and with the help of DOGE we will identify and eliminate all waste, fraud and abuse,” Turner said.
At the end of the Biden administration, Housing and Urban Development had more than 9,600 federal employees and managed the disbursement of $70 billion in housing assistance across the country. As of 2024, more than 4.3 million people lived in HUD-subsidized housing, more than 3 million received Section 8 housing subsidies and the agency distributed billions in various grants to support disaster rebuilding and homelessness.
“We still expect further cuts but not sure when or how those will happen,” one HUD employee told NOTUS this week. “The way everything is happening now is just so chaotic.”
“Typically when faced with a difficult period you’re provided with support by your leader,” that employee told NOTUS one week into Turner’s tenure. “But we have the feeling that this administration does not want us to succeed, it’s throwing so much at us and anticipating that we’re going to fail.”
HUD is just one of multiple agencies that have started cuts under the Trump administration, which include the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Aviation Administration.
Housing advocates have spoken out against the cuts at HUD, but they have little ability to stop them. On Tuesday, Democrats in the Senate sent a letter to Turner demanding an “immediate” halt to firings at the agency, citing the effects the cuts would have on HUD’s ability to serve constituents in need.
“Some of the most drastic reductions impact areas that support highly vulnerable people, including seniors, homeless veterans and families, and people with disabilities, and provide billions of dollars to cities and counties across the country,” the Democrats, which included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said in the letter.
“Without sufficient staff to run these programs, community and economic development projects, disaster recovery efforts, and housing development across the country will be delayed and could come to a grinding halt,” the letter went on.
Warren is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Several other Democrats on the committee also signed the letter.
In a statement on Wednesday, Shaun Donovan, a former HUD secretary during the Obama administration, said “there is a right way to address waste and fraud … But chaotic cuts can and will have painful consequences for families and the economy.”
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.