UPDATED: July 11
On March 31, HUD released a redesigned website, removing about 90 percent of its content. HUD claimed the overhaul was due to low traffic and poor user experience. But many of the changes have only made it harder to use the site, with broken links, content moved to new pages, and, most importantly, critical content removed altogether. Why the chainsaw approach?
Certainly websites—especially ones with large amounts of data—do need periodic refreshing to reduce redundancies and improve user navigation. And the agency referenced findings from a process begun before the current administration that indicated deep dissatisfaction with HUD’s website.
“The site was bloated with redundant, outdated and disorganized content, making it difficult for users to access the critical information needed,” said the agency’s press release. “Nearly half of the respondents to HUD’s 2024 feedback survey were unsatisfied with HUD.gov. Additionally, less than 5% of HUD.gov’s total pages made up 80% of all web traffic, yet the website had 9,200 web pages, 123,000 documents, and 19 program office microsites, each with its own separate confusing navigation.”
Simplifying navigation and making things easier to find is a laudable goal, and one you could even argue that the revamped main page achieves. (Aside, at least, from the addition of a quote at the top that referenced God, which was removed in early June. The quote was an inappropriate mixing of church and state for a federal agency website, and also blocked users with a small screen from quickly accessing the content they needed). Editor’s note: as of July 11, this quote had been, at least temporarily, put back on the homepage.
However, even a quick look into what has been removed from the site belies the idea that efficiency was the main motivating factor for the reduction in content. After all, removing content rather than making it easier to find what you want does nothing to improve the user experience.
A quick comparison with the Wayback machine turned up this taste of what’s missing.
- Press releases from 2024 return 404s at their previous URLs. Though they remain available on the archive page, anyone who had the previous link will need to work very hard to find them, which is not an improvement in either user experience or server space.
- 22 out of 23 press releases issued by HUD in January 2025 were missing from March 31 to June 5, when they were added to the archive pages.
- All of the previous issues of the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R)’s publications Edge and Evidence Matters are gone. That’s 10 years’ worth of studies and information on best practices in housing. (Cityscape archives are still there, apparently intact. It is unclear why they survived when the others did not.) All reference to the publication Policy & Practice, which was launched in 2023, is gone, even from the discontinued publications page.
- The FHIP page’s section on previously awarded grants now only has a list going back to 2023 and the FHIP archive has been taken down.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is missing, as users are discovering as they go to check resources they previously relied upon. When I asked people what they missed so far, some of the answers included:
- All of the guidance on making housing plans that affirmatively further fair housing
- “The entire section that was on the Shelter Plus Care page about targeting communities in need. The whole section on diversity in housing locations to better meet the income inequities. The pieces related to income-based community housing related to Section 8. The funding descriptions related to HOPWA. The paragraphs related to HUD staff reflecting the communities they serve.”
- “Guidebooks for annual reports we are still obligated to submit.”
So what actually motivated this drastic shrinkage? A Jan. 24 email stated that the consultant firm ICF had been tasked with going through all the material on the HUD Exchange looking for trigger words related to the executive orders on DEI and gender. A search of HUD’s site itself for similar phrases now returns primarily 404s.
So, it’s hardly a stretch, nor a surprise in this environment, to suggest that the overall website revamp was actually a way to cover for a drastic whitewashing operation, rather than a sincere attempt to make the site easier to use.
What are the most egregious or harmful removals and changes you’ve found on the HUD website? Let us know in the comments.
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7 thoughts on “What’s Missing From HUD’s Shrunken Website?”
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If it’s true that ICF was hired to do this ideologically-motived hack job, I would strongly encourage states and municipalities who contract with them to reconsider that relationship.
None of this is a surprise. Obviously, just a whitewash without any thinking.
Yes, more quality information and research is better than less. But, my long experience with HUD is that they were never user-friendly whenever I submitted inquiries. It was always the big run-around. My perfect example is that my local HUD office urged me to contact Washington HUD, whereupon Washington HUD’s advice was to talk to my local HUD office!
We can only hope that a new Administration will re-create much of what was taken out.
The CPD page (https://www.hud.gov/hud-partners/community) is missing references to many programs, including HOME. The search function finds some HOME resources, but it’s now pretty disorganized.
My major concern is how the search for LIHTC housing from state to state was suddenly deleted! In the past, I could google, “LIHTC Huduser database” and a chart would appear with datasets. You could choose the state you want to live in – then select either a county or a city. From there you could select targeted to elderly. And every Affordable Tax Credit apartment building would appear in the area of your choice. ALL of that info is gone!
It is July 11, 2025. Hud.gov still has the God-reference quote up on its homepage from HUD Secretary Scott Turner. It is right on top, the first thing you see. It was not removed in June or if it was it was only a temporary removal. Also, in late May 2025, I called the HUD L.A. Field Office number 213-894-8000 and you do NOT get the L.A. Field Office anymore, it takes you to a HUD call center. That center, or whatever it is called, then makes note of your call/issue and they send it on to L.A. Field Office she said. (I declined.)
Thanks for pointing that out Sherri! The quote had been removed at the time this was published — it must have been put back!