Reaction & Commentary
FIRST ON FOX: Roughly 2,300 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees have opted to take deferred resignation offers since January, Fox News Digital learned.
“To continue serving the American people at the highest standard, we are taking inventory of all programs and personnel while maintaining a strong workforce that is dedicated to supporting our most vulnerable and promoting pathways to self-sufficiency,” Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
“The Deferred Resignation Program carries out President Trump’s commitment to efficiency in the federal government by providing a pathway for employees to wish to seek new opportunities while also affording the agency an opportunity to streamline our operations.”
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered deferred resignations to federal employees earlier in 2025, which closed in February. The deferred resignation initiative offered staffers eight months of pay and benefits if they parted ways with their federal government jobs.
HUD announced the launch of a second resignation offer March 31 to employees “who wish they had taken” OPM’s offer.
Roughly 2,300 HUD employees have taken the deferred resignation offers, with slight fluctuations possible as they iron out final agreements with staffers, Fox Digital learned. Ahead of the Trump administration, HUD employed nearly 10,000 individuals.
HUD OFFICES BECAME AS VACANT AS A ‘SPIRIT HALLOWEEN’ STORE UNDER BIDEN: ADMIN SOURCES
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development nominee Scott Turner is sworn in during his Senate confirmation hearing, Jan. 16, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“On week 1, President Trump went straight to work on reforming the federal workforce. One option offered to federal employees was a ‘fork in the road’ to separate from the federal workforce,” HUD posted to its official X account March 31.
“The option to take the fork in the road closed on February 12, 2025. Since then, we have heard from staff who wish they had taken it. Today, we’re launching a second Deferred Resignation Program or ‘fork in the road’ in coordination with OPM that opens today and closes on Friday, April 11, 2025.
Under the Biden administration, HUD reportedly had become desolate as staffers worked from home and rarely visited its massive Washington headquarters. Fox News Digital reported in February that HUD’s headquarters became as empty as an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store under the Biden administration, which had left offices relatively untouched since the first Trump administration.
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“For four years, the American people witnessed their government buildings transform overnight into massive, taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween’ stores,” a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital at the time.
President Donald Trump signed a memo on his first day back in the Oval Office ordering agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements that had been ongoing since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Turner told Fox Digital in February that upon his confirmation, “the four year vacation” for staffers was “over.”
Under the Biden administration, HUD reportedly had become desolate as staffers worked from home and reportedly rarely visited its massive Washington headquarters. (Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
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“This is a huge disservice to the American people and a massive waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Turner told Fox Digital in February. “Let me be clear – the four-year vacation is over.”
“I’ve been on many teams in my career, and I know from experience that in-person teamwork ensures accountability and fosters an environment of collaboration, creativity and communication,” he said. “At HUD, we’re getting back to work for the American people.”
