Calvin Bentley remembers how he felt when he finally moved his wife and 7-year-old son into a public housing development in Kansas City, Missouri: “liberated.”
His family’s arrival at West Bluff Townhomes downtown came after nights spent in sketchy hotel rooms and a struggle for him and his wife, Symone, to come up with the first and last month’s rent each time they had to move.
“We were going from place to place, paying monthly leases and weekly payments just to be able to have a roof over our head,” he told me.
However, the Bentleys are now concerned that cuts in Washington will jeopardize their only stable home in months, as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency targets the Department of Housing and Urban Development for significant cuts as part of its effort to shrink the federal government.
According to housing advocates and local housing officials, DOGE may reduce the agency’s staff by up to 50%, leaving the 4 million low-income American families, such as the Bentleys, who rely on federal funding to keep a roof over their heads, concerned about how this will affect their lives.
Symone Bentley stated that getting a spot in public housing was not easy.
“We spent many, many nights crying, praying,” she recently stated.
Symone and Calvin Bentley are concerned that they will end up back where they started, scraping together money by doing Door Dash and Amazon deliveries late at night to cover basic expenses.
“Let’s just be real, if you really don’t have much housing, you probably don’t have much money to eat either,” Calvin Bentley told me. “And if you were driving, you probably don’t have money for gas either.”
He described it as a “domino effect” of financial instability.
Edwin Lowndes, the director of the Kansas City Housing Authority, agreed with Musk and President Donald Trump that government inefficiencies “need to be fixed.” However, he believes Musk’s “chainsaw” approach is not the best way to do it.
Instead, he wants HUD’s leadership to define its mission and then ask, “What’s the most efficient and effective way to accomplish the objective?”
“I think every single business does that,” he joked. “So we should do that in our federal programs, as well.”
Lowndes’ office uses federal HUD funds to pay landlords via housing vouchers for over 8,000 Kansas City families who would otherwise be homeless. Another 25,000 families are on the wait list.
According to two HUD sources, the Department of Housing and Urban Development had approximately 8,800 employees nationwide at the start of the year and has already laid off hundreds of them. The agency has not disclosed how many employees have been fired since DOGE was established in January.
However, a document obtained by NBC News shows that HUD staff could be cut by up to 50% across the agency, including in the rental assistance unit, which could be reduced from 1,529 to 765 by mid-May, according to the document.
A source familiar with staff cuts told NBC News that “conversations are ongoing as the Department explores consolidation while continuing to prioritize service.”
The department is inventorying personnel and programs to ensure “they are working for the American people and delivering the best results,” according to a statement.
“HUD serves our most vulnerable and will continue to do so in the most efficient and effective way possible,” the department’s spokesperson stated.
Lowndes expressed concern that looming staff cuts in Washington and regional HUD offices will disrupt the funds he uses to pay landlords. However, he remains optimistic.
“The practical side of me says in the pragmatic side, ‘Congress won’t allow that to happen, whether it’s Democrat or Republican,'” said the Republican leader. “I believe that when they really look at what they need to do, there are enough voices on both sides to say that this is a program that, despite its inefficiencies, is necessary. We cannot simply walk away.
Calvin Bentley is concerned that his new home will be jeopardized, despite the fact that he and his family currently feel safe. He wishes more people could receive the assistance he received.
“It literally shows that there are programs to help people who just need, just a little, just need a leg up there,” he told me. “There is hope.”
