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President Donald Trump did not waste any time Monday after his inauguration as he signed dozens of executive orders tied to everything from immigration and energy policies to a temporary halt on a U.S. ban of TikTok.
Trump also rolled back protections for transgender Americans and ended diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the federal government. According to reporting by The Association Press (AP), this move is designed to stop efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
Within the realm of housing and mortgage finance, the executive order to end DEI initiatives is set to impact entities like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). It is less clear whether it will affect the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or the Federal Home Loan Banks, which are under the FHFA’s supervision.
HousingWire reached out to representatives at HUD, FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The executive order at hand is titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” It directs the White House Office of Management and Budget to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
Within 60 days, the order requires the leaders of all federal agencies, departments and commissions to terminate all DEI and “environmental justice” offices and positions “to the maximum extent allowed by law.”
“Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements,” the order explains.
The Trump administration condemned an executive order issued on the first day of the Biden administration in 2021. Former President Joe Biden’s order, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” has been removed from the White House website.
“The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination,” Trump’s executive order stated. “That ends today. Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”
Civil rights groups indicated their opposition to the executive order, which was signed on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“Dr. King had a dream, and this is his nightmare: the rollback of the work of our civil and human rights coalition over the past 75 years,” Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, told the AP.
While it’s unclear how many positions at the federal level could be eliminated by Trump’s order, housing agencies like HUD and FHFA have departments dedicated to diversity issues that are at risk.
HUD’s office of DEIA explains on its website that its executive leaders and business partners “work closely to advance DEIA as the core values of the organization and its strategic human capital objectives.”
Just last year, the FHFA established a Division of Inclusivity, Culture and Equity (DICE) under the leadership of Debra Chew. Four other employees are listed on the division’s website, which noted that the majority of FHFA’s workforce in 2023 was composed of racial and ethnic minorities. The agency reportedly grew its share of minority representation by 30% from 2019 to 2023.
Fannie Mae has an Office of Women and Minority Inclusion that touts its commitment to “expanding opportunity for our employees and diverse suppliers, vendors and business partners.” Freddie Mac calls its internal DEI efforts “more than a business imperative — it’s a mindset.” The agency goes on to state its commitment to “encouraging equitable and sustainable homeownership and rental opportunities for traditionally underserved Black and Latino communities.”
Sweeping changes to agencies like HUD were mentioned in Project 2025, a document authored in 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Although Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during last year’s presidential campaign, its section on housing was authored by Ben Carson, the HUD secretary during Trump’s first term.
While Carson did not specifically mention internal policies at HUD related to DEI programs, he did call for a “reset” of HUD that would “include a broad reversal of the Biden Administration’s persistent implementation of corrosive progressive ideologies across the department’s programs.”
Scott Turner, who is Trump’s nominee to lead HUD going forward, had his Senate confirmation hearing last week. Carson called Turner the “perfect pick” to lead the agency, and Turner has referred to Carson as a mentor.
