The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plans to close dozens of field offices across the country, according to staff at the department as well as a union that represents federal workers. The move would leave most states without sites or staff to underwrite mortgages, and would potentially violate federal law. Federal law requires the agency to maintain at least one field office in every state in order to process applications for mortgage insurance. Field offices also address fair housing claims and assist landlords, tenants and local governments with other issues. Another federal law states that the reorganization of any regional or field office at HUD can only proceed 90 days after the government has released a cost-benefit analysis of closing the office, including a study of the impact on the local economy. No such analysis has been published in the Federal Register since President Donald Trump came into office. The plan keeps open the regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Fort Worth and Philadelphia, as well as Kansas City, Kansas. Field office closures would leave 34 states and the District of Columbia without any local HUD office. The Federal Housing Administration, a division of HUD, underwrites mortgage insurance for hundreds of thousands of buyers, generating billions of dollars annually for the Treasury. Read more at Bloomberg CityLab.
Source: CityLab; 3/5/2025