Housing agencies begin closing offices, escorting employees out

Two key agencies overseeing the nation’s housing policy have begun to eliminate offices and shed staff, according to several employees briefed on the matters, as the Trump administration ratchets up its plan to slash federal government capacity. 

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage institutions, has so far this week shuttered two of its divisions, resulting in a cut to nearly 10% of its workforce. The moves follow the confirmation of Bill Pulte to lead FHFA and his decision this week to fire the majority of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s boards and name himself as the chair of both panels. 

The Housing and Urban Development Department, which operates separately from FHFA, is in the process of shuttering its Office of Field Policy and Management. It has notified the American Federation of Government Employees council that represents those workers that it plans to initiate reductions in force for around 150 employees. AFGE has demanded to bargain over the RIFs but has yet to hear back from the department. 

OFPM housed offices such as those overseeing labor standards, fair housing and lead hazard control. The department is expected to go through more significant layoffs in the coming weeks and months. Several HUD employees told Government Executive they were on high alert amid expectations that mass RIFs would begin soon, but those actions have not yet been announced. HUD, like all agencies, turned in its plan for across-the-board headcount reduction last week. 

HUD and FHFA have the same liaisons from the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, including at least Michael Mirski, whose firm TCC Management operates mobile home parks. Scott Langmack, an executive at real estate data firm Kukun, also represents DOGE at HUD.

FHFA on Wednesday brought some of the roughly 60 employees from its Research and Statistics Division into the agency cafeteria and notified them of their placement onto administrative leave. The workers were subsequently escorted out of the building. 

That followed FHFA on Tuesday dissolving its Division of Public Interest Examination, which is expected to lead to some of the office’s two dozen or so employees losing their jobs. Some of the roles are protected by statute and are expected to be placed elsewhere, employees said. DPIE was a new office that FHFA stood up last year to to provide oversight of entities it regulates in areas such as affordable housing, consumer protection and diversity and inclusion. Its closure follows the elimination of the agency’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. Because OMWI is statutorily required, it was folded in the agency’s equal employment opportunity office, though its employees were placed on leave. On Tuesday, FHFA placed the EEO team on leave as well, according to two employees. 

The agency has also placed some of its facilities staff on leave, a move an employee briefed on the situation could not explain. 

An FHFA spokesperson declined to elaborate on why any specific cuts were taking place, saying only that it was “streamlining our agency” and would “follow all applicable laws, including OMWI and EEO statutes.” 

FHFA has 866 employees total, though only 744 when not including its inspector general’s office. The recent administrative leave placements, which are expected to lead to layoffs, amount to the agency shedding about 10% of its workforce in the last 24 hours. An additional 60 employees have accepted the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer. 

One employee called the staffing cuts, coupled with the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae board purges, a “shock” that creates “lots of uncertainty” about FHFA’s future. The two “government-sponsored enterprises” went into a conservatorship led by FHFA after the 2008 housing crisis, but are expected to be offloaded under President Trump. 

The recent moves do not look like ‘preparing for a traditional [initial public offering] where you want credibility,” one employee said. 

In a recent video message, HUD Secretary Scott Turner sought to push back on media narratives about cuts at his department, while declining to say anything specific that has been misreported. 

“HUD is taking inventory of every program and process to determine when and where the department can be more efficient in the delivery of its statutorily required programs,” Turner said. He added he department was “laser focused” on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse but also was also “taking a surgical approach and making sure we retain top talent and institutional knowledge so that we can best serve the American people.”

HUD did not respond to requests for comment.