HUD's Cuomo peels onion of reform

"Peel the onion!"

When it comes to reinvention, that's Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo's slogan.

"We keep peeling deeper and deeper at HUD and sometimes that makes you cry," Cuomo told Reinvention Revolution Conference attendees Wednesday.

Last June, Cuomo announced a management reform plan that would eliminate 3,000 jobs and consolidate 300 HUD programs to 71.

The reform plan, called HUD 2020, aims to change HUD's reputation as a department plagued by scandal and mismanagement to "a HUD that works."

"Reinvention to me is not a negative act toward government. Reinvention is not retaliatory," Cuomo said. "Reinvention should be a celebration of government and the purpose of government."

Cuomo said that managers in charge of reform efforts need to use a "buy-in plan" to involve employees in the change process. "You need to convince the employees that the change is right and not just tell them this is how it's gonna be," he said.

Agencies must also use some employees as "change agent warriors" to change others' way of thinking, Cuomo said.

"The enemy is apathy and anxiety. You have to fight that concept every day," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said HUD has now identified two distinct missions: community builder and public trust officer. As a community builder, HUD works with housing grantees in a facilitating role. As a public trust officer, HUD makes sure its budget is spent wisely.

Since the implementation of the HUD reinvention plan, the agency has slowly but surely come around, Cuomo said. For the first time ever, HUD submitted its budget to the Office of Management and Budget on time. Through nationwide merit staffing, the department has also "aligned the workload with the workforce," he said.

But the reinvention plan is not without its critics.

In December, HUD Inspector General Susan Gaffney said the reform plan is built on an unsupported premise that the department can adequately function with a staff of 7,500.