Newly released GAO report details HUD's 29% workforce reduction

A Government Accountability Office report publicly released Oct. 14 says the Department of Housing and Urban Development reduced its workforce by 29% between December 2024 and December 2025. The report is dated Sept. 30, 2026. Its new public availability is this week’s news; the staffing reductions it examines occurred in 2025. Source.

What the workforce finding says

GAO says deferred resignation programs accounted for most of the reduction. More than half of the employees who separated had at least ten years of HUD service, including 41% with more than twenty years. Those tenure figures describe departing employees, not the entire workforce.

The report draws on publicly available workforce information and other records. It does not say HUD lost 29% of its staff in October 2026, nor that the same percentage reduction occurred in every office or program. The observation period belongs alongside the headline figure.

Contracts and grants followed different patterns

GAO says HUD terminated about 21% of its active contracts in 2025, valued at approximately $367 million. Most of the terminated contracts involved professional or information-technology services. That contract figure is not a measure of rental-assistance payments cut by the same amount.

About half of HUD’s 68 active grant programs made new awards in fiscal 2025, while the median value of those awards was higher than in previous years. This finding concerns programs making new awards, not a statement that half of every existing grant or housing benefit disappeared.

Stakeholder reports, with a limited sample

GAO interviewed representatives of twenty local and national housing organizations and conducted four site visits. It describes the organization selection as nongeneralizable. The interviews provide specific accounts, not a statistically representative estimate of disruption across all HUD operations.

Nearly all interviewed organizations reported losing experienced contacts. Fair-housing stakeholders described reduced services or staffing during funding gaps, and some stakeholders reported delays involving inspections of HUD-assisted properties. These are attributed reports from the selected organizations, not proof that every housing agency or assisted property had the same experience.

HUD’s reported initiatives and the evidence gap

The report notes HUD’s public statements about efficiency initiatives, including a unified grants system and a project voucher initiative intended to automate parts of rental-assistance processing. GAO says HUD did not respond to requests to discuss these initiatives or supply supporting documentation.

That leaves limited evidence in the report about their status and effectiveness. HUD provided technical comments that GAO incorporated as appropriate. Neither the agency’s stated aims nor GAO’s inability to obtain documentation establishes that a particular initiative succeeded or failed.

Takeaway for housing-program operators

The newly released report offers a dated account of staffing, contracting and grant changes, plus selected organizations’ experiences. Its practical value is in those documented boundaries. It is not a new benefit-eligibility notice, and it does not establish a universal cause or timetable for individual program delays.

Sources

GAO-26-108442, publicly released Oct. 14, 2026.

GAO full report and methodology.

Cover: Official HUD seal, a public-domain U.S. government work, used for editorial identification without endorsement. Provenance and rights.

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Transcript (on-screen text; original instrumental music, no narration): U.S. GAO | mortgage.news OCT 17; FEDERAL WATCHDOG REPORT; GAO reviews HUD’s 2025 workforce; Report GAO-26-108442; HUD workforce down 29%; December 2024 to December 2025; 20 stakeholder organizations interviewed; Selected, nongeneralizable sample; Some reported delays; Dated Sept 30; Publicly released Oct 14; Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office; mortgage.news