Whistleblower Paul Asadebe says he was fired after reporting HUD fair-housing concerns
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Summary
Paul Asadebe, a former HUD Fair Housing attorney and union steward, told a Spotlight Forum of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he was suspended and fired after lawfully reporting alleged interference with fair-housing enforcement and urged Congress to back the Protect America’s Workforce Act.
Paul Asadebe, a former attorney in the Office of Fair Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a union steward with AFGE Local 476, told a Spotlight Forum of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he was suspended and then fired after reporting alleged wrongdoing to Congress.
"I lawfully brought my concerns to the Congress as a federal whistleblower. Yet I was suspended and then ultimately fired for doing so," Asadebe said, adding that the notice of his termination arrived two days earlier.
Asadebe said he and other HUD staff have faced efforts by DOJ officials and political appointees to curtail fair-housing enforcement. "They illegally withdrew discrimination cases, shredded settlements, and blocked investigations that they didn't like," he said, and he accused officials of reassigning staff "to defend the agency instead of your rights."
He warned those enforcement changes have concrete consequences for people in congressional districts: "survivors of domestic violence, people of color, disabled veterans, and American families are not being protected by the government that their tax dollars pay for," he said.
Asadebe also alleged the administration was attempting to relocate HUD headquarters out of Washington, D.C., to Alexandria without congressional authorization or funding, describing the move as an effort to uproot employees and evade oversight.
He identified four HUD employees who had jointly reported concerns and said two of them—Palmer Heenan and himself—were fired after doing so. Asadebe urged lawmakers to act, calling for support for the Protect America's Workforce Act to restore union protections and to ensure accountability for officials who he said were issuing "illegal orders."
The testimony at the Spotlight Forum was presented as a personal and union account; no committee action or formal response from DOJ or HUD was recorded in the transcript. Asadebe closed by urging oversight and saying the whistleblowers would not be silenced.
