(AURN News) — Twenty states and the District of Columbia are taking the Trump administration to federal court, accusing the Department of Housing and Urban Development of stripping more than $3 billion in homelessness funding and placing an estimated 170,000 people at risk of losing stable housing. Attorneys general argue that HUD’s new rules not only fail to help but actively punish the very communities the money was designed to support.
Under the changes, permanent housing programs — which traditionally receive about 90% of Continuum of Care funds — would see their share reduced to just 30%. HUD wants the remaining funds shifted to transitional housing programs that include work requirements and other conditions. State attorneys general contend that HUD cannot rewrite a program Congress created in 1987, particularly when federal law requires that funds be distributed based on need rather than ideology.
Officials warn that the overhaul would force cities and nonprofits to redesign their homelessness response systems almost overnight or risk losing critical federal support. They say the shift would cut off access to housing, child care, job training and mental health services for thousands of people who rely on them.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
