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The Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent watchdog agency housed within the legislative branch of the federal government, will open an investigation into attempted cuts by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) scrutinizing its efforts to cut funds that were congressionally approved for the enforcement of fair housing laws.
According to reporting at the New York Times, the investigation stems from a letter submitted by several leading Democratic senators who sounded the alarm to GAO over actions the department has taken in concert with the U.S. DOGE Service, the government cost-cutting effort inside the White House led by billionaire Elon Musk.
“Despite HUD’s key role in enforcing the Fair Housing Act, however, the Trump Administration has taken steps to reduce the agency’s ability to fulfill this key function,” the letter — sent on March 18 — said.
“Specifically, the Administration reportedly plans to terminate nearly 80% of FHEO staff, has terminated key Fair Housing Act enforcement grants, and reversed or halted enforcement of key HUD rules, including the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (AFFH) and Equal Access Rule.”
The letter was co-signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Tina Smith (Minn.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.).
The investigation was recently announced in a letter from GAO to the offices of the senators, which was obtained by the Times. The move comes after fair housing organizations nationwide faced severe cuts to their organizations, prompting a lawsuit from four members of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) who collectively alleged that the cuts would “immediately” compromise their work fighting housing discrimination and segregation.
In that suit, the NFHA representatives were recently handed a legal victory: a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary order to stop HUD’s cancellation of the grants.
The Times reported that GAO agreed to pursue an investigation late last week.
“In a letter sent Friday in response, A. Nicole Clowers, managing director of congressional relations for the GAO, said the request for an investigation into the funding cuts was accepted, and her office would initiate it,” the report said.
Sen. Warren’s office expressed satisfaction at the news, telling the Times that the attempted cuts “would harm families across the country who have experienced housing discrimination.”
The outlet’s requests for comment from HUD and the White House went unreturned.
