Reuters: Politics: Housing Department plans 7-day shut down due to sequester cuts

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Housing Department plans 7-day shut down due to sequester cuts Mar 11th 2013, 19:02 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Budget crisis eases as Republicans seek to avoid shutdown Mon, Mar 4 2013 Napolitano: Airports feel impact from spending cuts Mon, Mar 4 2013 Obama renews budget offer to cut social safety nets Sun, Mar 3 2013 Spending cut debate casts pall over Obama's second-term agenda Sat, Mar 2 2013 U.S. lurches into new budget crisis, spending cuts imminent Fri, Mar 1 2013 Analysis & Opinion Obama's best strategy: do nothing The sequester disconnect Related Topics U.S. » Politics » Housing Market » Related Interactive A new condominium building is shown under construction in the Brickell Ave. area in Miami, Florida February 14, 2013. Credit: Reuters/JOE SKIPPER WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:02pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday said it plans to shut its doors for a total of seven days between May and September due to budget cuts and will furlough more than 9,000 employees on those days. Across-the-board cuts known as sequestration are forcing government agencies to reduce spending. The government furloughs are a result of those $85 billion cuts that began on March 1 after a gridlocked U.S. Congress was unable to resolve fiscal fights and find a solution to replace the sequestration. The seven furlough days will be spread out, according to HUD, and will impact HUD's work force at its main headquarters and all 80 field offices. All employees will be impacted, and only staffers considered as critical would be required to work during designated closure days. The critical staffers will be scheduled for furlough on seven other days. "Everybody will have the same number of furlough days," said HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. "We're trying to not have more than one furlough day per period," referring to the federal government's standard two-week pay period. The agency will determine the exact shutdown dates at a later time. In cataloging the impact of sequestration to a Senate panel last month, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan warned lawmakers that the government spending cuts would have harsh consequences for housing programs and could threaten Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts in the U.S. Northeast. "The ripple effects are enormous because of how central housing is to our economy," Donovan told lawmakers. HUD has held a town hall meeting to go over the furlough plans, but no formal notices have been sent at this time. (Reporting By Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Leslie Adler) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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