HUD OFFICE CLOSURES

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to close 16 of its 80 offices and 900 HUD employees may have to move or change jobs. The HUD Office closures will save the agency between $110 and $150 million over a 10-year period. The savings will begin to be realized in FY 2014.

WHY IS HUD CLOSING 16 OFFICES:

HUD, like other Federal agencies is balancing program delivery needs against the budgetary resources available to the Department. This action is in response to a White House executive order for more efficiencies.  Federal government has stated that the restructure  it is not in response to the fiscal 2013 budget cuts stemming from the sequester but many feel that the pressure and uncertainty from the sequester made an impact on the decisions HUD made regarding restructure and office closings.

LARGEST RESTRUCTURE IN LAST DECADE:

The restructure is the largest since the late 1990s. As part of the reorganization, HUD’s Office of Field Policy and Management will shutter the 16 local offices. In addition, starting this fall, the department plans to consolidate staff in the multifamily housing program that provides mortgage insurance to HUD-approved lenders. Those employees are currently scattered in 50 offices around the country; by 2016, the department will reduce that number to 10.

SIXTEEN SMALL OFFICES ARE BEING CLOSED:

Camden, New Jersey; Syracuse, New York; Orlando, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Springfield, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Flint,Michigan; Grand Rapids,Michigan; Shreveport, Louisiana; Dallas, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Fresno, California; Sacramento, California; San Diego, California and Spokane,Washington.

HOW WILL LOCAL COMMUNITIES BE AFFECTED:

HUD is retaining offices in every state, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. None of the offices being closed is responsible for the management of HUD programs, so the realignment of personnel.  HUD has assured the community that the office closures will not disrupt the delivery of program services to the affected jurisdictions.

OTHER LARGE OFFICES IN THE STATES WHERE THE 16 OFFICES ARE BEING CLOSED:

HUD is retaining at least one office in every state, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. The offices remaining open in affected states are:

NJ – Newark

NY – Buffalo, Albany and New York City

FL -Miami, Jacksonville

IL – Chicago

OH – Columbus, Cleveland

MI – Detroit

LA – New Orleans

TX – Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth

AZ – Phoenix

CA – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Ana

WA – Seattle

OFFICE CLOSURE IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES

Four of of the 16 offices slated to be closed serve eight cities with the highest rates of foreclosures. As pointed out  in a recent article on CNN Money, Florida, with 20 million residents, has four offices now, but will soon have only two, even though last month Florida cities made up 10 of the top 25 areas with the highest numbers of foreclosures. Tennessee, in comparison, with 6 million residents, had no cities in the top 25 but is scheduled to retain all three of its field offices.  

On the surface, these decisions might not make sense, keeping some offices and closing others in high needs areas. However, there were many variables in office capacity and efficiencies that go beyond foreclosure rates that were considered in the process of identifying the offices to be closed. As HUD states, all office closure decisions were based on the business needs of the agency.

WHEN WILL THE OFFICES BE CLOSED:

The closures are expected to be completed early in fiscal year 2014.

WHAT HAPPENS TO HUD STAFF IN THE OFFICES THAT ARE CLOSING:

Employee options are primarily:

• Relocate to a designated office, with relocation benefits

• Accept a buyout, together with either retirement or resignation

Nine hundred HUD employees will likely have to relocate, sometimes hundreds of miles away, retire or leave with buyouts of up to $25,000.

THOUGHTS:

Those of us who work with HUD’s National and Local offices and their contractors and grantees feel rattled by these decisions. However, HUD funding cuts to municipalities, to their grantees and with their contractors over the past decade have been met with similar decisions at local government, small business and nonprofits.

I appreciate the difficulties of these decisions. I believe HUD will benefit from greater savings, use of technology and greater efficiencies as will their partners and, ultimately, the citizens who depend on HUD for services and housing.

What do you think about the office closures and the overarching restructure of the Department of Housing and Urban Development?

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