Once Targeted for Closure, HUD Office to Be Expanded

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development will expand its Santa Ana field office to serve at least four states, according to Lee Godown, press secretary for Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

In an earlier plan for consolidation of HUD operations, officials had considered closing the Santa Ana office.

The changes will begin to take place within a week. The office will grow from 43 employees to 200, most of whom will be transferred from other locations. In the past, the Santa Ana office took care of HUD business in Orange, Riverside, Inyo, Mono and San Bernardino counties, mostly processing loans for single-family homes and conducting FHA insurance endorsements. The Santa Ana office will also handle technical reviews, underwriting, loss mitigation, marketing and outreach, and lender monitoring.

Santa Ana will become one of four Home Ownership Centers in the country, along with Denver, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

At one time, HUD was considering moving the functions of the Santa Ana office to Denver.

In a letter to HUD Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo, Sanchez argued that Santa Ana is the most efficient HUD office in the country, based on the agency’s own figures, and handles double the caseload and generates more business than Denver, according to her press secretary.

“I applaud the department for trying to do more with less, and I am glad that Santa Ana will be part of this plan to make HUD more efficient,” Sanchez said.