Objectives Behind the Redesign

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently launched a new version of its website, HUD.gov, which aims to enhance its functionality and accessibility for users. The update signifies HUD’s commitment to being mission-focused while effectively providing essential information to the public.

According to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the redesign intends to narrow costs for taxpayers and is the result of extensive feedback collected from the American public over the years.

Research and Feedback Insights

In preparation for the website overhaul, HUD’s design teams and financial officials collaborated with the “Digital Experience Working Group.” This group analyzed user behavior through traffic assessments and a survey aimed at gathering opinions directly from users.

Notably, HUD’s findings from the 2024 feedback survey revealed a significant level of dissatisfaction: nearly half of participants expressed dissatisfaction with the previous HUD.gov. Despite featuring around 9,200 pages and 123,000 documents, only a mere 5% of the pages accounted for 80% of all site traffic.

Improvements and Reductions in Content

The revamped HUD.gov website boasts a 90% reduction in content compared to its predecessor. The newly simplified structure organizes information into three easily navigable categories:

• Helping Americans
• HUD Partners
• Researchers

HUD announced that these changes are expected to generate savings exceeding $400,000 for taxpayers.

Challenges and Current Issues

While the new layout improves navigation significantly, some issues persist. For instance, links within the “HUD Partners” section for the single-family division are experiencing errors. Notably, all but one of the links to specific single-family programs return a 403 error, indicating access restrictions. The only accessible program relates to mortgage insurance for disaster victims.

Additionally, the section concerning Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgage servicing has been removed from the single-family partner page, although the National Servicing Center’s original website remains intact.

Looking Ahead: Modernization Goals

HUD’s initiative to modernize its information technology systems has been a multi-year effort. A report from 2021 highlighted notable advancements but also warned of potential risks due to leadership changes and funding challenges.