The government shutdown has put 7,109 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees out of work until federal officials agree on a spending plan to keep the government running.
Almost 95% of the agency’s 7,497 workers would be furloughed, according to a department official on Dec. 21. Before the holiday, President Trump and members of Congress were at an impasse on a temporary spending bill that would include funds for Trump's border wall.
HUD has a 90-page contingency plan for dealing with a shutdown that’s triggered by a lapse in appropriations. Most federal employees are required to stop work because no funds would be available to pay staff.
"HUD will have an extremely limited number of employees to answer emergency questions during a shutdown," says the plan. "All HUD regional and field offices and HUD headquarters will be closed with some limited exceptions for a very narrow range of activities that are permitted during a lapse in appropriations."
The plan outlines some general exceptions. For example, the Office of Public and Indian Housing will “address emergency situations where the failure to perform those functions would result in an imminent threat to the safety of human life or the protection of property”
HUD will also continue to close multifamily loans but only on a projects with firm commitments that have a scheduled closing date or projects with critical external deadlines during the shutdown. Lenders may still assign a loan. However, the processing of the claim will be delayed, according to the contingency plan.
Local public housing authorities are not part of the federal government so would not be required to close as part of a federal shutdown. However, since they receive funding from the federal government, they may be impacted by a shutdown.
