A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce the effectiveness of grants to provide dependable housing to people who are homeless.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced its intent to limit the scope and funding of its $3.5 billion Continuum of Care program, which provides cities and states with subsidized housing grants to address homelessness in local communities.
Instead, the federal government wanted recipients to focus on shelters and other short-term housing projects with work requirements and penalties for programs serving immigrants, transgender people and those with mental illnesses.
Scott Turner
HUD Secretary and Southern Baptist pastor Scott Turner withdrew the proposed changes shortly before a Dec. 10 court hearing on a restraining order requested by nonprofit groups and local governments who sued to block the restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy granted the requested injunction Dec. 19, halting the changes and requiring HUD to process the grants according to the original terms after Turner mentioned restrictions were still being considered.
“This order offers local governments and nonprofit organizations doing the hard and important work of supporting people experiencing homelessness some much-needed relief after the threat of harmful new conditions imposed by the Trump-Vance administration,” said the coalition of cities and nonprofits that filed National Alliance to End Homelessness v. HUD.
“Today’s order means that more than 170,000 people — families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities — have respite from the government’s assault. The Trump-Vance administration has suggested it would double down on its unlawful and unreasonable effort to kick people out of housing and back into homelessness with a new policy shift.”
The administration also was sued by a group of state attorneys general and two governors. Plaintiffs in that case also welcomed McElroy’s decision.
“Continuum of Care funds help keep tens of thousands of people in their homes and provide essential services to the most vulnerable, including families and veterans,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “This administration’s efforts to undermine this vital program are illegal, and today we put a stop to them.”
In addition to James, the attorneys general for Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia also are plaintiffs in that action, as are the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The National Coalition to End Homelessness described its lawsuit as an effort to block HUD’s “reckless and illegal” efforts.
Anna Oliva
“At a time when we should all be focused on scaling up and improving our most effective programs, this administration is instead focused on tearing them down,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the organization. “These sudden decisions will cause programs to be totally defunded or go without federal funds for at least five months, and likely longer.”
Santa Clara County, Calif., counsel Tony LoPresti blasted the HUD proposal as “another instance of the Trump administration prioritizing its political agenda above the needs of our most vulnerable community members.”
The changes proposed by HUD represent “insidious efforts” to weaponize the federal government against its own people, said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, which is representing plaintiffs in the National Alliance lawsuit along with the ACLU Foundation of Rhode Island.
“This unlawful action by the Trump-Vance administration threatens to push hundreds of thousands of people out of housing and back to the street,” she said, adding “we will continue to build the coalitions to meet them — and beat them — in court.”
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