One-fifth of staff left since 2012
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge faced questions from both parties about how she plans to replace departed staff, a personnel gap that she said has undermined the implementation of department programs.
President Joe Biden’s budget request for the agency includes $182 million to increase personnel and recover some of the 20 percent of staff the department lost from 2012 to 2019. Fudge on Thursday appeared before the Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the budget request.
“What I found at my entrance into the agency is an agency that had great employees. But they were overworked and were understaffed,” Fudge said. “Until we can start to build back up our staff and build back up our capacity, we are at risk of not doing some things that we should do to make sure that our mission is completed.” Continue reading.