Our staff at the Coalition for the Homeless wanted to share some new information reported in Politico on Monday evening regarding impending changes to HUD funding.
According to this article, “the Trump administration is expected to dramatically cut funding for a permanent housing program—a move that could potentially reexpose tens of thousands of people to homelessness.”
Three HUD employees have confirmed that Continuum of Care (CoC) funding for permanent housing will be cut by almost two-thirds in the next round of federal funding. Right now, 87% of CoC program funds support permanent housing; with this change, a maximum of 30% would be allowed to be dedicated to permanent housing—down from $3.3 billion to $1.1 billion. For Louisville, that would be about $7 million of our $24 million allocation.
Unfortunately, this article contains all of the info that we have at the moment; we all have a lot of questions and very few answers. The article does point to the likelihood of a legal challenge, though, and of course, we will all have more information when the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is finally released.
Here’s what we do know:
- “Permanent housing” is a broad term that HUD defines as including both permanent supportive housing (the best practice for chronically homeless people with disabilities) as well as rapid rehousing (a successful short-term intervention for families with children).
- Permanent housing is a flexible and effective intervention that can meet the needs of many people in programs that are cost-efficient and have a 98% success rate at keeping people housed in Louisville.
- In Louisville, nearly 1,800 people are currently in permanent housing programs, including families with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
- Cutting permanent housing by two-thirds would negate decades of hard work and stability for hundreds of formerly homeless people in our city, leading to a dramatic increase in homelessness.
What can we do right now? We are asking anyone who has relationships with Congressional staffers or members of Congress to tell them how devastating these changes would be in Louisville and to ask HUD to eliminate the proposed cap on permanent housing. Decreasing funds dedicated to permanent housing by millions of dollars will lead to an increase in homelessness for families and individuals alike here. Find your members and send a personal message now.
In addition to sharing the facts above (and information about your work in housing for homeless services), please ask Congress to support the addition of a provision to the Continuing Resolution to renew existing Continuum of Care grants for one 12-month period. This would prevent HUD from upending the homeless response system as we know it and limit the damage of the current shutdown by extending funding to operate the government. See more info from the National Alliance to End Homelessness here.
We will be in touch as we learn more. We are grateful as always for your hard work and partnership, and will stand alongside you to do everything we can to fight this and minimize its harm.