Due to the government shutdown, 442 employees have been affected by layoffs at HUD

Layoffs were confirmed for the first time in a X message from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought who wrote“The RIFs have started.”

The layoffs came just over a week after the government shutdown. No previous lockdown has led to such action; Normally, laid-off workers return as soon as the government reopens.

The document says 442 HUD employees have received RIF notices. Bloomberg reported that the largest reductions at HUD occurred in the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, which investigates housing discrimination. Nearly 100 equal opportunity specialists in field offices across the country have been notified that their positions will end on December 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 employees told Bloomberg, on 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 staff reductions.

The cuts extend beyond fair housing, with more than 100 staff members who oversee 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.