HUD faces massive staff cuts, while a lawsuit buys time for CFPB
The D.C. shakeup continues as Elon Musk’s DOGE team takes on HUD, looks to cut staff by half; the CFPB awaits a new director and retains funding — for now.
The Department of Government Efficiency has moved in at HUD, and a union leader says up to half the staff of 9,000 could soon be moving out.
Scott Turner, the newly installed secretary of Housing and Urban Development, released a message on social media welcoming Elon Musk's task force and saying that $260 million in savings had already been identified.
"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.
AFGE Council 222 President Antonio Gaines, whose union represents HUD employees, told Politico that as many as half of the department's field offices could be closed, in addition to job cuts of up to 50%.
The biggest targets, according to Gaines: the offices of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Policy Development and Research, and Community Planning and Development, along with Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes programs. The FHA, which insures mortgages, is expected to come through relatively unscathed.
New leader named as CFPB juggles lawsuits and layoffs: Former FDIC board member Jonathan McKernan has been nominated to lead the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which is facing multiple lawsuits as it continues to lay off staff. The bureau's rule-making and enforcement activities have been frozen since early February.
Meanwhile, Russell Vought — the head of the Office of Management and Budget and acting director of the CFPB until a new leader is confirmed — has agreed to delay plans to cut off CFPB funding until Feb. 28 in response to a lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore.
Also this week, plaintiffs in another case have asked a federal judge to stop efforts to shut down the bureau, which reportedly includes plans to fire more than 95% of CFPB employees as soon as Feb. 14. "That would make it impossible for the Bureau to fulfill any of its statutorily required functions," the filing states.
McKernan was hailed as a "strong choice" by the Mortgage Bankers of America, due to his "deep experience as a regulator, in private practice, and on Capitol Hill — coupled with his background working on housing policy."