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Tag: HUD

HUD Secretary creates DOGE Task Force

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced a new Department of Government Efficiency task force on Thursday to “eliminate waste, fraud and abuse” at his federal agency.

DOGE revealed that $1.9 billion in HUD money had been recovered as of Friday, saying the funds were misplaced during the Biden administration and were “earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed.”

DOGE said it worked with Turner to release the funds, and they are now available for use by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Turner said HUD launched its own DOGE Task Force to review how the agency is spending taxpayer money. HUD employees will lead the task force with a mission to maximize their budget and efficiency, reporting their findings directly to Turner.

EXPERT REVEALS MASSIVE LEVELS OF WASTE DOGE CAN SLASH FROM ENTITLEMENTS, PET PROJECTS: ‘A LOT OF FAT’

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner was confirmed Feb. 5, 2024. (Getty Images)

“HUD will be detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent to serve rural, tribal and urban communities. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are no longer in a business-as-usual posture, and the DOGE task force will play a critical role in helping to identify and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse and ultimately better serve the American people,” Turner said.

TRUMP TEAM DIGS IN, FINDS MILLIONS OF WASTED DOLLARS AT EPA, HUD WITH DOGE HELP

Turner said he established the task force to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

The HUD DOGE Task Force will work to “ensure all programs, processes and personnel are working together to advance the purpose of the department.”

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner launched a Department of Government Efficiency Task Force to review how HUD is spending taxpayer dollars. (Getty/AP)

HUD is responsible for national housing policy and urban development, and its programs include affordable housing programs, community development, homeowner support, fair housing and anti-discrimination enforcement, homelessness services, and affordable housing programs.

Turner said during his announcement Thursday that the DOGE Task Force had already identified over $260 million in savings.

“We have already identified over $260 million in savings, and we have more to accomplish,” Turner said.

As Elon Musk and DOGE comb their way through the federal bureaucracy, some agencies are conducting their own investigations to meet DOGE halfway.

Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin announced on Thursday he had canceled a $50 million environmental justice grant.

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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“I canceled a $50 million grant to an organization called the Climate Justice Alliance. They say that climate justice runs through a free Palestine. I think that the American taxpayer wouldn’t want $50 million going to this left-wing advocacy group. It’s canceled,” Zeldin said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also committed to cooperating with DOGE to cut wasteful spending at the Department of Defense.

“We will partner with them. It’s long overdue. The Defense Department’s got a huge budget, but it needs to be responsible,” Hegseth told Fox News.

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 16, 2025
DOGE finds HUD money that was ‘misplaced’ by Biden admin

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led group tasked with eliminating wasteful spending, on Friday said it found $1.9 billion that was misplaced by the Biden administration.

The funds were from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and have been recovered.

“$1.9 billion of HUD money was just recovered after being misplaced during the Biden administration due to a broken process. These funds were earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed,” a DOGE post on X stated.

THROUGH THE EPA, WE CAN PURSUE ENERGY DOMINANCE, LEE ZELDIN SAYS | FOX NEWS VIDEO

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen with the American flag in the background. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

HUD Secretary Scott Turner worked with DOGE to “fix the issue” and “de-obligated the funds which are now available for other use by the Treasury.”

On Thursday, Turner announced the creation of a DOGE task force within his agency.

“We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America,” he said in a video posted on X.

TRUMP TAPS FORMER NEW YORK REP LEE ZELDIN TO LEAD EPA

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. (Al Drago)

Turner said his team had identified $260 million in savings just two days prior. DOGE has identified billions of dollars in questionable spending.

With the help of DOGE, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said he has canceled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.”

The EPA also sent $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer under the Biden administration, Zeldin said during a Thursday appearance on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” He noted that the Biden administration sent the full amount to the manufacturer, rather than making payments along the way as school buses were being produced.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Since receiving the money, he added, the company has declared bankruptcy.

February 15, 2025
Trump team digs in, finds millions of wasted dollars at EPA, HUD with DOGE help

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The new administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin, said he has canceled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.”

Zeldin, who was sworn in as the EPA administrator at the end of January, was a guest on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Thursday, where he spoke about canceling the grant.

“Just earlier today, I canceled a $50 million grant to an organization called the Climate Justice Alliance,” he said. “They say that climate justice runs through a free Palestine. I think that the American taxpayer wouldn’t want $50 million going to this left-wing advocacy group. It’s canceled.”

Zeldin also noted that Congress has advocated against the grant.

EPA ADMINISTRATOR ZELDIN DEMANDS RETURN OF $20B IN TAXPAYER MONEY WASTED BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said his team has uncovered billions of dollars that were wasted at the agency under the Biden administration. (Fox News)

The EPA also sent $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer under the Biden administration.

Zeldin said the Biden administration sent the full amount to the manufacturer, rather than making payments along the way as school buses were being produced.

Since receiving the money, he added, the company has declared bankruptcy.

“They still haven’t provided $95 million worth of school buses to the 55 school districts,” Zeldin said. “It’s the American taxpayer that gets screwed.”

TRUMP TAPS FORMER NEW YORK REP LEE ZELDIN TO LEAD EPA

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

On Wednesday, Zeldin announced his team had located $20 billion in taxpayer funds that the Biden administration purposely wasted.

Two months ago, a video featuring a Biden EPA political appointee circulated, with that individual talking about how they were “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” and rushing to get billions of tax dollars out the door before President Trump took office.

Zeldin spoke about the video on X, and said the gold bars were tax dollars, and “tossing them off the Titanic” meant the Biden administration knew they were wasting the money.

The new EPA administrator said his team has plans to recover the “gold bars” that were found “parked at an outside financial institution,” which he did not mention by name.

THROUGH THE EPA, WE CAN PURSUE ENERGY DOMINANCE, LEE ZELDIN SAYS | FOX NEWS VIDEO

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 05, 2024, in Washington, DC. Musk and his Co-Chair, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are meeting with lawmakers today about DOGE, a planned presidential advisory commission with the goal of cutting government spending and increasing efficiency in the federal workforce. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

As the EPA continues to find ways funds are being wasted, President Donald Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is being led by billionaire Elon Musk, also continues to go agency to agency in search of blown tax dollars.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner announced the creation of the DOGE Task Force at HUD on Thursday.

“We will identify and eliminate any waste, fraud and abuse,” Turner wrote on X. “Under President Trump’s leadership, business as usual is over.”

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He announced his team had identified $260 million in savings, just two days prior.

Fox News Digital’s Christina Shaw contributed to this report.

February 14, 2025
HUD directs agency to prohibit trans males from federally funded women-only shelters

On his first day in office, Eric Turner made a bold move as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

He directed agency staff to suspend all pending and future enforcement actions related to the Obama-era Equal Access Rule, which required HUD-funded programs and shelters to determine eligibility based on a person’s self-identified gender.

Turner said that the move was part of President Donald Trump’s agenda to “restore biological truth to the federal government.”

“We want to protect the ladies entering any HUD facilities,” Turner told reporters Thursday, adding that he wants to “restore equal rights, but no extra rights.” The Secretary added that most of the females who utilize HUD shelters already come from domestic violence situations, and he wants to ensure that their tragedies are not exacerbated when they turn to the federal government for help.

TRUMP’S PICK AS HUD SECRETARY, A FORMER NFL PLAYER, SAYS HE WANTS TO HELP AMERICANS GET OFF GOVERNMENT AID

Trump’s newly confirmed HUD Secretary Eric Turner is rescinding rules prohibiting federally funded shelters from asking for proof of someone’s biological gender.

Turner’s directive follows Trump’s Day One executive order terminating federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and mandating the federal government only recognize two genders, male and female. This week, Trump signed an executive order preventing biological males who identify as females from competing on women’s sports teams, as well as another prohibiting minors from receiving puberty blockers or transition surgery.

Under the 2016 Equal Access Rule that Turner is rescinding, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and other federally funded HUD-assisted housing programs were prohibited from requiring people to prove they are biologically female. Following Turner’s directive, this will no longer be prohibited.

President Donald Trump signs the No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

In 2018, nine California women filed a lawsuit against a local women’s shelter in Fresno, which operates with public funds, for allegedly forcing them to take showers alongside a biological male who identified as a woman and who they claimed sexually harassed them.

15 STATE AGs VOW TO PROTECT TRANS PROCEDURES FOR MINORS DESPITE TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

Last year, police in Greenville, South Carolina, arrested a transgender woman, Michelle Silva Perez, for stabbing a shelter employee after Perez was admitted to the emergency shelter meant only for women and mothers. The facility, which receives both state and federal funding, said it would have acted differently if it had known that the suspect was not a biological woman.

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A protester holds a placard outside of the Pennsylvania Capitol this week during a 50501 Movement protesting the Trump administration’s policies aimed at transgender folks.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

February 6, 2025
Trump’s former NFL player HUD secretary pick clears procedural vote

Scott Turner, a former NFL player and Texas state lawmaker, advanced past a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday night, teeing up a final confirmation vote to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) later this week.

The nomination cleared the procedural vote by a margin of 55-45, with two Democrats joining Republicans.

President Donald Trump announced Turner as his choice to be HUD secretary soon after his November election last year.

BERNIE SANDERS, JOSH HAWLEY TEAM UP ON TRUMP PLEDGE TO SLASH CREDIT CARD RATES TO 10%

Turner overcame a key Senate hurdle ahead of his confirmation vote. (Getty Images)

In Trump’s previous administration, Dr. Ben Carson, a former GOP presidential candidate, led HUD.

Turner notably played in the NFL for nine seasons after being drafted in 1995. The defensive back spent time playing for the Washington Redskins, the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos.

Carson was previously HUD secretary. (Leon Neal via Getty Images)

After leaving the league, he ran for office in his home state of Texas, where he served for several years.

In Trump’s announcement, he touted Turner’s work in his last administration as the First Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC). He explained that the nominee “lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”

TULSI GABBARD ADVANCES OUT OF INTEL COMMITTEE IN BOOST TO CONFIRMATION ODDS

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development nominee Scott Turner, Secretary of Health and Human Services’ nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Google CEO Sundar Pichai attend the inauguration of Donald Trump in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Saul Loeb – Pool/Getty Images)

“Those efforts, working together with former HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 Federal Agencies which implemented more than 200 policy actions furthering Economic Development. Under Scott’s leadership, Opportunity Zones received over $50 Billion Dollars in Private Investment!” he added.

Trump has seen several of his nominees confirmed already. (Associated Press)

In Turner’s hearing last month before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, he testified that he wants to fix broken policy areas and ween Americans off of government assistance.

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He explained that it is his goal “to help people get off government assistance, become self-sustainable and achieve the American dream.”

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 5, 2025