Layoffs were first confirmed in an X post from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought who wrote, “The RIFs have begun.”
The layoffs came just over one week into the government shutdown. No prior shutdown has prompted such action; typically, furloughed employees return once the government reopens.
The document says 442 HUD employees received RIF notices. Bloomberg reported that the largest reductions at HUD were in its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, which investigates housing discrimination. Nearly 100 equal opportunity specialists in field offices across the country were notified that their positions will end Dec. 9, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg.
Offices in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Fort Worth, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia and others were affected.
Two HUD staffers told Bloomberg, on the condition of anonymity, that entire fair housing teams in the Denver and San Francisco regional offices received layoff notices, while five other regions saw major cuts to staff.
The cuts extended beyond fair housing, with more than 100 staff overseeing public and Indian housing receiving notices, including 25 rental housing inspectors and 50 employees in the office that oversees the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Bloomberg reported.
HUD did not respond to HousingWire’s request for comment at the time of publication.