HUD is looking for a new home — and it may be looking to downsize as thousands of its employees accept deferred resignation offers.
About 2,300 employees at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have taken deferred resignation offers as part of the controversial “Fork in the Road” program, according to reporting by Fox News Digital.
The program, which allows federal employees who accept the severance offer to get paid through the end of September, was rolled out on January 28 in an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The program was presented as an alternative to the risks of potential mass layoffs, telling workers that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency.”
The OPM email, believed to have been influenced by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), contained the same “fork in the road” language as Musk’s ultimatum to Twitter employees when he purchased the social media platform in 2022.
The OPM program was closed on February 12, the same day a federal judge ruled that several unions that sued to block the directive’s prior February 6 deadline “lack standing to challenge the directive.”
The HUD resignations came amid reports that the government department planned to slash up to half of its workforce as part of a broad cost-cutting effort.
HUD headquarters up for sale
Last week, HUD announced that it is working with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to “engage the market and explore HUD’s relocation options.”
HUD’s current headquarters in Washington, D.C., “faces over $500 million in deferred maintenance and modernization needs,” according to a HUD press release. The federal department claims that it costs taxpayers “more than $56 million in yearly rent and operations expenditures.”
“We’re committed to rightsizing government operations and ensuring our facilities support a culture of optimal performance and exceptional service as we collaborate with our partners at GSA to deliver results for the American people,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner stated.
In an interview with Fox News that aired last month, Turner said that the Brutalist-style HUD headquarters “is known as the ugliest building in D.C.”
The former football star, who played cornerback for eight seasons in the NFL, used a sports analogy to describe the effect he thinks the planned move will have on employees, likening it to a football player who has a career resurgence after switching teams.
“We’re a team here at HUD, and we’ve got to get better facilities,” Turner said.
While the timeline and final location of the new HUD headquarters are still under evaluation, the D.C. metro area “remains a top priority,” according to the HUD press release.
