The White House has reportedly solicited information from staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to justify the existence of various contracts.
According to reporting by NPR, a spreadsheet was sent to employees, asking them to assess the importance of contracts, whether or not they have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, or if the contractor is “competent.”
The inquiry was sent by Scott Langmack, senior adviser to Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). It also requested the name of a “contract champion within the bureau who will personally vouch for the answers,” the report explained. Answers were requested by Feb. 11.
Staffers at HUD are reportedly concerned about the implications of the request, specifically in how it could draw attention from DOGE, which is currently nestled within the White House’s U.S. Digital Service. President Donald Trump recently renamed the department as the United States DOGE Service via an executive order issued Jan. 20.
A staffer for HUD told NPR that future funding grants have effectively been paused and that permission is required on anything else moving forward.
“It’s impossible to plan in this totally chaotic environment,” the person told the outlet.
Another employee expressed fear at the idea of entire parts of HUD being wound down for closure. A third employee added that “leadership was reminding people that the agency’s work is important and bipartisan, but the erosion of support for government aid has been demoralizing.”
All three employees requested anonymity out of fear for their jobs.
But two HUD union leaders with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), while echoing the same anxieties, also said that it’s possible DOGE could be more receptive to complaints related to waste and inefficiency in some key areas.
“If we really want to get to the bulk of fraud, waste and abuse, let’s take a close look at a federal procurement system, because this has been broken for years,” Antonio Gaines, the president of AFGE National Council 222, told NPR.
One such culprit that Gaines said could make a positive difference comes from a tool approved by department management designed to assist with the inspection of public housing facilities. While he said that federal workers are often saddled with a reputation as “lazy,” he added that decisions made by leadership have sometimes led to the adoption of flawed or inefficient tools.
This includes an application specifically designed for public housing inspections, which he described as “disastrously slow and clunky to use.” He was referring to the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) system, put in place by the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) at HUD in late 2023.
“The app is woefully dysfunctional, but we spent $40 million on it already,” Gaines explained to NPR.
The union even submitted a formal complaint last year to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The complaint was also sent to several other lawmakers and leaders, including then-HUD inspector general Rae Oliver Davis.
The complaint did not receive a substantive response, Gaines said. But now that DOGE is in place and ostensibly seeking to eliminate waste and inefficiency from the federal budget, he said there’s an opportunity to do so with NSPIRE. But things may not work out that way, according to Erik Jetmir, the legislative and political chair for Council 222.
“This is something that really will shed light on the lack of oversight,” Jetmir said. “[But the White House] can just as easily take a look at the contracts and replace them with loyalists and cronies.”
In mid-2024, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) submitted a letter to HUD, which urged the department to avoid reprimanding mortgage servicers for compliance lapses with NSPIRE. The MBA said that “accessibility issues as well as system bugs that still must be worked through in the new NSPIRE system are preventing” inspections from being conducted “in a timely fashion” as required by REAC protocol.
“[S]ervicers have experienced difficulties logging into the system, scheduling inspections, maintaining inspection schedules and reviewing reports,” MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit explained in the June 2024 letter.
“Problems with the software and incorrect data have left a number of servicers unable to access the system. For those inspections that are completed, many servicers are unable to access the reports, with no ability to follow up on any potential necessary repairs.”
HUD staff are indicating stress and uncertainty about the department’s posture going forward. This owes to the aggressive actions taken by the White House and DOGE over the past few weeks since Trump’s inauguration.
Gaines took aim at the Trump administration’s “repeated digs at federal employees — like saying public sector jobs are ‘lower productivity,’” calling such aspersions offensive. Referring to the White House’s federal employee buyout offer, he added that it “seems to me that is the epitome of fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
A federal judge recently declined to further delay the buyout offer from taking effect. It could impact tens of thousands of government workers. But if too many employees end up leaving HUD as as a result, one internal source told NPR that it will make it challenging to “carry out our mission.”
