The entire staff of the White House agency tasked with coordinating the federal government’s efforts to combat homelessness was placed on leave on April 15.
All 13 employees of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, or USICH, received notice from the agency’s acting director on Tuesday informing them that they were being put on administrative leave, starting immediately, according to three people familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 14 targeting the council for elimination, alongside other government entities including the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
“This is a devastating decision,” says Jeff Olivet, former USICH executive director under President Joe Biden and senior advisor on health and homelessness for the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Not only for the fine public servants who work at USICH and have dedicated their lives to the work of ending homelessness, but also for federal homelessness policy as a whole.”
Trump’s order called for the staffing and functions of these agencies to be reduced to the minimum required by law. But the actions by USICH acting director Kenneth Jackson, an official with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, appear to violate the statutory guidelines that established the agency.
Continue reading
Disclaimer
The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components
This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
