The employee union is calling on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to cease and desist from cutting the agency’s workforce as announced in early October.
According to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Council of HUD Locals 222, memoranda dated Oct. 10 proposed a reduction in force (RIF) affecting hundreds of employees:
• Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), Real Estate Assessment Center—91 employees (all in Washington, D.C.);
• PIH, Office of Operations—12 employees;
• Office of Housing, Office of Housing Operations—50 employees (primarily in Washington, D.C.);
• Office of Housing, Office of Housing Counseling—36 employees (nationwide, appearing to abolish the entire program area);
• Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), Office of Operations and Management—16 employees (primarily in Washington, D.C.);
• FHEO, Field Offices—98 employees (all Equal Opportunity Specialists, GS-7 through GS-13, in Regions 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9);
• Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations—nine employees (all in Washington, D.C.); and
• CPD, Grants—21 employees (primarily in Washington, D.C.).
The proposed effective date for these RIF actions is Dec. 9.
“The union demands that HUD cease and desist from issuing specific RIF notices to affected employees, abolishing positions, developing, or finishing retention registers, or taking any other preparatory or implementation steps until the parties have fulfilled their statutory and contractual bargaining obligations,” said Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE National Council of HUD Locals 222, in an Oct. 13 letter to HUD.
Gaines said HUD must halt all RIF-related actions, including issuing individual employee notices and abolishing positions, until bargaining is completed to impasse or agreement.
Read the full letter here.
According to a HUD spokesperson, “HUD is implementing a reduction in force as part of its ongoing efforts to realign its activities with its core statutory mission. It is HUD’s priority to serve the American people effectively.”
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has strongly condemned the Trump administration’s recent RIF notices, noting that the proposed firings include more than 100 employees from FHEO.
“This administration is completely destroying the federal government’s capacity to address housing discrimination,” said NFHA president and CEO Lisa Rice in a statement. “In his confirmation hearing, HUD Secretary Scott Turner promised to uphold the Fair Housing Act, but every action taken under his leadership says otherwise.”
In another move, Gaines recently wrote Turner to protest a message that appeared on the internal “HUD at Work” website. According to the union president, the message states “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
Gaines says the message is a clear violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty, in the federal workplace, or using government resources.
He adds that “Furthermore, this message serves as an inappropriate scare tactic directed at HUD employees, implying imminent harm to the public and workforce due to partisan actions. Such rhetoric creates a chilling effect on employees’ rights to engage in protected activities and fosters a hostile work environment by injecting partisan fearmongering into the federal workplace.”
The public HUD website also has the message, “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”