Judge blocks HUD move to change funding for homelessness programs

Aug. 7 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from another attempt to shift how it funds programs to combat homelessness.

Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have repeatedly tried to make changes to the Continuum of Care program, which provides $4 billion in funds to local organizations serving individuals experiencing homelessness.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner has criticized the CoC program for prioritizing permanent housing solutions that apply the Housing First model, in which individuals are housed without preconditions.

Instead, Turner wants to shift funding to temporary housing and services.

“Our philosophy for addressing the homelessness crisis will now define success not by dollars spent or housing units filled, but by how many people achieve long-term self-sufficiency and recovery,” Turner has previously said. “We are stopping the Biden-era slush fund that fueled the homelessness crisis, shut out faith-based providers simply because of their values, and incentivized never-ending government dependency.”

With Friday’s decision, federal judges have now ruled three times against similar moves by HUD.

U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy said the government issued its latest notice of funding opportunity in a “procedurally invalid manner,” Politico reported.

“This isn’t the first time we have gone to court over an unlawful [notice of funding opportunity],” Mary Frances Kenion, chief equity officer for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told Politico.

“And what that tells us is that [HUD has] a pattern of not following the law, just based on the decisions that have been handed down by the court to date,” she added.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said CoC funds “help keep some of the most vulnerable in our communities in safe and stable housing.”

“It is shameful that this administration has tried repeatedly to break the law in order to push their political agenda and jeopardize this critical program,” James said in a statement. “We have once again stood up to enforce the law and halt their cruel agenda, protecting vital housing and other services nationwide.”