Paul Lumley, director of the National American Indian Housing Council, was barely on the job for one day when he had to fire half his staff.

It was his only choice if the housing council wanted to keep the lights on and the doors open in the Washington, D.C., office.

"It didn't take long to figure out what we needed to do, and do it quick," said Lumley on Wednesday. "It was the worst week of my professional career. It will affect this organization forever. It will never be the same."

The housing council received a federal budget cut of $2.6 million last year, and the House of Representatives recently included it among a list of earmarks, or entitlement programs, which are being scrutinized - or phased out - of this year's federal appropriations bill.

If his predecessor had made the cuts last year, as planned, workers might have had time to seek other job opportunities, Lumley said. Now, half the staff got their notices in a matter of days.

"We're not the only one going through this," said Cheryl Parish, a council board member in Brimley, Mich. "When we reached out to our friends on the Senate side, they said, 'We hear you. Our phones are ringing off the hook.'"

Housing council members, who are tribal housing authorities, will meet next week in the Capitol to discuss congressional reauthorization of the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act, or NAHASDA, which guides federal policy housing initiatives for tribes across the country.

"I've got an enormous challenge ahead of me to restore funding," said Lumley. If money is restored, full-time field workers won't be replaced; instead, tribal contractors will be hired.

"I don't want to go through what I did again," said Lumley.

Lumley was hired as the housing council's executive director on Jan. 29. The next day, he compiled a list of field workers who needed to be fired. And from that point, he began making phone calls.

"It was the longest four days of my life," said Louie Sheridan, one of 16 field workers who learned last week that he had lost his job. Sheridan lives in Lincoln, Neb., and often traveled to reservations around the country to offer technical assistance to tribes on housing matters.

"We did keep enough field staff in place, but unfortunately a lot of tribes are still going to need service," said Parish.

(Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 406-523-5299 or jodi.rave@;lee.net.)