Dive Brief:
- The National Alliance to End Homelessness and the Women’s Development Corporation filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging the agency’s new criteria for permanent supportive housing grants are “unconstitutional and unlawful.”
- HUD’s grant criteria blocks applications from entities that “operate in jurisdictions with policies the Trump-Vance administration disfavors,” the organizations argue, including states and cities that offer sanctuary protections or inclusive policies for transgender people.
- “HUD does not have the authority to do this,” the lawsuit states. “In our constitutional system, Congress controls the purse strings and decides what funding to provide, for what purposes, and under what criteria.”
Dive Insight:
Last year saw record amounts of homelessness across the U.S., with increases in nearly every demographic.
The Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government has included proposals to cut federal housing assistance.
Congress approved $75 million for HUD to award to nonprofits, states or localities to build permanent supportive housing. Despite identifying which projects would be awarded funding, HUD changed course last week, opening a new notice of funding on Sept. 5., “and is now seeking new applicants based on newly announced criteria,” according to the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Applications are due today by 3 p.m., Eastern Time.
“Permanent Supportive Housing is an essential resource for re-housing those with the greatest needs,” stated Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “Withholding it from communities for political reasons is unconscionable, unconstitutional, and unaligned with the goal of serving vulnerable Americans.”
Other disqualifying criteria for grants include entities in jurisdictions that provide services considered “harm reduction,” such as safe drug use practices, according to the plaintiffs.
The funding notice requires applicants to make yes or no responses to a series of statements. These require the project to be located in a jurisdiction that prohibits public camping or loitering and cooperates with federal immigration enforcement. Grant awards will be based on the order in which submissions are received and where the applicant responds “yes” to all the criteria.
“By implementing jurisdictional criteria that a non-profit applicant doesn’t control, the administration is drawing lines around towns and entire states that will no longer be able to compete for federal funding,” Women’s Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Shea said in a press release.
The plaintiffs also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against HUD Secretary Scott Turner.
Democratic senators from Washington and New York asked HUD’s inspector general to investigate the department’s handling of the grant award process. “This Administration has now wasted hundreds of hours of local organizations’ time that could — and should — have been spent working to address homelessness,” Sens. Patty Murray and Kirsten Gillibrand said in a statement.
