Exterior of U.S. Capitol building lit up during the evening

DREDF Denounces Decimation of Critical Education, Housing, and Healthcare Staff, Calls for Action

On the evening of Friday, October 10, 2025, the Trump Administration laid off more than 4,000 federal workers in the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), and four other agencies, including most of the staff at ED that provide support for disabled children and adults. The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) continues to denounce actions taken to dismantle Federal agencies and departments that are critical to the disability community. DREDF rejects all attempts by the federal government to ignore its responsibility to uphold its own laws.

Agency departments facing severe cuts include:

  • Nearly all staff in the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). OSERS oversees both the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), which supports disabled children from birth to age 21 and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), which assists states and other agencies to provide services to disabled teens and adults to increase their employment, independence, and integration.
    • OSEP and RSA get funds to state, local, and non-profit-led programs.
    • They provide oversight, ensuring that state and local entities and school districts are following disability rights laws like the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
    • OSERS provides guidance, best practice documents, webinars and other resources to states, school districts and employers to aid in disabled people having a real future no matter where they live.
  • HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Public and Indian Housing, the Office of Housing and Community Planning and Development
    • Office of Fair Housing staff in DC and in regional offices investigate reports of disability and other forms of discrimination and abuse filed by home buyers or renters and enforce the Fair Housing Act.
    • Office of Public and Indian Housing staff services include inspecting rental housing to ensure it is decent, safe and sanitary for residents. Inspections are critically important for disabled people and those with chronic health conditions. The Office of Community Planning distributes and administers billions of dollars in block grants for affordable housing and community development that disabled people, seniors and others rely on.
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) staff at HHS
    • SAMHSA staff lead public health efforts that treat mental illness, especially serious mental illness, and prevent substance abuse and addiction. They also provide funding to state and local entities to support people with mental health and substance use conditions in accessing and receiving care. SAMHSA oversees the 988 suicide prevention hotline, which is critical for disabled people with mental health disabilities in crisis and can connect those in need with emotional support teams instead of armed police officers.

States, local governments, school districts, and agencies need ED, HUD, and HHS to understand and provide services required by laws like the IDEA, Rehab Act, and Fair Housing Act. They provide guidance, national reports to compare and measure progress, and make sure that local leaders live up to their responsibility to serve every eligible person and family. These cuts will significantly harm disabled people, especially the multiply marginalized, and interfere with our rights to a free and appropriate education; affordable, accessible housing free from discrimination; and access to mental health services and public health programs that keep us all safe and living in our communities.

“These reductions are not a surprise — they were clearly outlined in Project 2025,” said Michelle Uzeta, Interim Executive Director of DREDF. “This Administration is moving hastily to advance its agenda of dismantling the federal workforce, targeting the people and agencies that provide essential services to disabled and multiply marginalized communities. It’s disgraceful.”

DREDF will continue to advocate for and celebrate the lives of all people with disabilities, including students, their families, and all who seek to serve them. DREDF urges its followers to take action at the local, state, and federal levels by calling on decision makers to protect the ED, HUD, and HHS programs.

Take Action!

  • Call or email your members of Congress to remind them that access to education, housing, and mental healthcare for all remains a human right. Use this search tool to get contact information for your Senators and Congressional Representatives. Tell them not to allow cuts to programs and staff that the disability community and so many others rely on!
  • Have a story to share? We invite you to tell us about how the shutdown, cuts to Medicaid or other agencies or programs, including housing and education, have impacted you and your families. Please complete this survey.

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