As the shutdown continues, more and more agencies and departments are carrying out layoffs. And, in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, these layoffs are being used to rein in the department’s most radical office.

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From the Daily Wire:

A HUD official said the largest office targeted by the 442 layoffs at that agency is the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office, which the official said became the tip of the spear for left-wing initiatives under former president Joe Biden.

The office is tasked by law with enforcing the Civil Rights Act and processing complaints from people who say they were discriminated against in housing due to disability, race, sex, national origin, and other characteristics. The office’s budget was increased by 20% under Biden and employed nearly 600 people, yet was so focused on issues like transgenderism and dubious theories about systemic racism that it failed to process complaints about more straightforward discrimination, the official said.

For example, the Biden administration became obsessed with the theory that racist home appraisers might be estimating homes owned by blacks at lower values than those owned by whites. The dubious theory is undermined by the fact that appraisers often don’t know the race of a homeowner, and the process is driven by formulas such as comparisons to similar, recently-sold homes.

The Daily Wire notes that, while the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office focused solving so-called racist discrimination, real instances of discrimination went unaddressed. In one instance, a double-amputee was reportedly blocked by his homeowners association from widening his driveway to accommodate a wheelchair. The Daily Wire notes this complaint languished under Biden for two years before the Trump administration solved the issue.

The office is required by law to address these sorts of discrimination complaints within 100 days. However, according to a 2024 inspector general report, the office failed to meet that deadline more than 70% of the time.

In the most shocking example, the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office argued that minimum lot sizes were discriminatory. According to the Daily Wire, their “logic was that it’s racist to not have apartments everywhere, because blacks like to live in apartments.” The office proposed “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” would would have forced communities to allow lots to be subdivided without restriction, effective abolishing the suburbs.

As the shutdown continues, let’s pray for a swift resolution. But let’s also that, for as long as the government remains shut down, our leaders in the Trump administration move quickly to restore and reform the federal government.

How are you praying about the layoffs in the federal government? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from the Daily Wire. Photo Credit: EL Evangelista/Pexels)