Embedded Files
Washington, D.C. — Four civil rights attorneys at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have come forward with a whistleblower report revealing grave violations of federal law, political retaliation, and systemic civil rights failures under Secretary Scott Turner’s leadership.
The whistleblowers—career attorneys in HUD’s Office of Fair Housing (OFH) — allege that HUD has illegally dismantled its civil rights investigation and enforcement capacity, abandoned survivors of domestic violence, and frozen millions of dollars in federal funds meant to fight housing discrimination.
Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren requested that the Inspector General investigate these allegations.
📖 Read the New York Times story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/realestate/trump-fair-housing-laws.html
Key Findings from the Whistleblower Report:
Key Findings from the Whistleblower Report:
Civil Rights Enforcement and Compliance Gutted: OFH staff cut by nearly 70%, leaving only six staff attorneys to enforce the nation’s civil rights.
Illegal Political Interference: DOJ referrals withdrawn, settlements shredded, discrimination cases closed, and factual findings by career staff overridden.
Gag Orders: Attorneys barred from communicating with DOJ, complainants, or even HUD colleagues—stalling investigations and denying or delaying justice.
Retaliation: Staff reassigned, silenced, or fired for defending fair housing laws.
Domestic Abuse Survivors Abandoned: The only federal team enforcing housing rights for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault dismantled.
Funding Frozen: 78 nonprofit grants terminated and 179 new applications frozen—jeopardizing $56 million mandated by Congress.
Who/When: On Aug. 27, 2025, four HUD Office of Fair Housing (OFH) civil-rights attorneys sent Senator Elizabeth Warren a whistleblower report, asserting legal, ethical, and professional duties to disclose.
Core claim:
HUD political and some career leadership under Secretary Scott Turner are dismantling civil-rights enforcement, placing HUD on “an unalterable course” toward violating federal law and endangering the public.
What OFH/FHEO do (baseline):
OFH counsels FHEO and all HUD programs to investigate, charge, conciliate, and litigate housing discrimination cases; ensure Title VI/Fair Housing/VAWA compliance; and oversee civil-rights safeguards in grants and disaster-recovery programs.
Voices from the Frontlines
Voices from the Frontlines
Paul Osadebe, Whistleblower Attorney:
“We swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the public—not to rubber-stamp a political agenda. What’s happening at HUD right now is a direct attack on civil rights, public safety, and the rule of law. We’re speaking out because silence would make us complicit.”
Palmer Heenan, Whistleblower Attorney:
“No one can live without a place to call home. HUD’s current path endangers that basic promise, making it harder for millions of people to secure safe, stable housing”
Senator Elizabeth Warren:
“These whistleblowers have exposed a deliberate and dangerous dismantling of our nation’s civil rights protections. HUD’s leadership is gutting fair housing enforcement, abandoning survivors of domestic violence, and illegally freezing funds Congress mandated to fight housing discrimination. This is not just mismanagement—it is a direct violation of the law and a betrayal of the American people. Congress must act immediately to hold Secretary Turner accountable and to restore HUD’s mission of protecting families, communities of color, and survivors who rely on these protections every day.”
Call to Action from Whistleblowers, Civil Rights Groups
Call to Action from Whistleblowers, Civil Rights Groups
Congress must act to defend 50 years of civil rights progress. Civil rights groups, unions, housing advocates, and community organizations are mobilizing to demand that HUD and Congress:
Reinstate Real Oversight and Accountability: End political interference, rescind gag orders, and restore HUD’s civil rights enforcement capacity.
Rehire and Protect Staff: Block reassignments and return employees to protecting civil rights, reinstate probationary employees, rehire workers fired for advocacy, and block further layoffs and reorganizations.
Restore Survivors’ Protections: Rebuild the Violence Against Women Act enforcement team and trauma-informed investigation team services.
Release Frozen Funds: Reinstate fair housing grants and process all pending applications immediately.
Hold Hearings and Truth: Congress must immediately conduct hearings into the allegations in the whistleblower and OIG reports and demand answers and accountability from political and career leadership that ordered, facilitated, or allowed the dismantling of civil rights enforcement capacity and violations of law.
Pro-Civil Rights Leadership: Congress must ask questions and require concrete commitments under oath concerning these demands and block the appointment of any nominee that fails to make these commitments.
ABOUT THE FEDERAL UNIONISTS NETWORK
ABOUT THE FEDERAL UNIONISTS NETWORK
The Federal Unionists Network is a growing movement of federal workers and local union leaders standing up against illegal attacks on civil servants and defending the public services that millions of Americans rely on.
Media Contacts:
📩media@federalunionists.net
📞 Anna Bakalis, 323-770-4477
📞 Shaye Skiff, 270-300-4980
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