Judge Accuses Government of Causing “Intentional Chaos”
Washington, D.C. – On Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was forced to pull back a dangerous new policy hours before a hearing, causing another in a string of examples of government lawyers in court trying to defend the indefensible.
Last week, a broad coalition of local governments and nonprofit organizations took legal action to stop the Trump-Vance administration from creating unlawful and unreasonable restrictions that seek to shift funding away from proven solutions to homelessness, threatening to push hundreds of thousands of people onto the street as cold winter months arrive. On November 13, HUD issued a late-breaking Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FY 2025, upending the stability of the program required by law that will have devastating impacts for plaintiffs, and cause hundreds of thousands of children, youth, adults, and families to become homeless.
In advance of a hearing seeking a temporary restraining order this Monday, the Trump-Vance administration withdrew its NOFO, but reserved the right to issue yet another. The broad coalition is continuing to challenge the Trump-Vance administration’s dangerous policies and intentional chaos, which is putting people at risk of becoming homeless, in a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for next week.
Read the filing here.
See Coverage Below:
The New York Times: Trump Administration Withdraws Plan to Overhaul Homeless Aid
The Trump administration this week abruptly withdrew its high-profile plan to overhaul how $3.9 billion in federal aid to combat homelessness would be spent, saying it would reissue the proposal after making “appropriate revisions.”
The surprise move, revealed in a one-paragraph note by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, did not give a reason for withdrawing the plan or a timeline for reissuing it, saying only it would do so in time to govern awards for the current fiscal year.
The announcement added new uncertainty and potential delays to the government’s main program for homelessness relief.
The funding changes, announced in November, sought a wholesale shift in priorities. By changing the rules under which HUD makes the awards, they proposed to take billions of dollars away from so-called Housing First programs, which offer long-term housing with no preconditions, and shift it to time-limited programs that impose work rules or treatment for mental illness or drug abuse.
NOTUS: ‘Intentional Chaos’: Judge Chastises HUD in Dispute Over Homelessness Programs
A federal judge on Monday chastised the Trump administration for withdrawing a blueprint outlining how programs aimed at helping homeless people qualify for federal funding an hour before the court hearing that was set to review its legality.
The Notice of Funding Opportunity has been the subject of concern among housing advocates — including the National Alliance to End Homelessness, one of the plaintiffs that sued to stop the notice — who argued against cutting the funding that keeps thousands of Americans off the street.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s announcement of the withdrawal said it still intended to make “revisions” to the NOFO, but seemed even to catch its attorney — who couldn’t answer who had made the decision to withdraw it — off guard.
Boston Globe: Facing lawsuits, Trump administration pulls back contentious HUD grant changes just before court hearing
Facing two lawsuits, the Trump administration has temporarily pulled back its planned changes to funding for programs supporting people who are homeless – which opponents argue were unlawful and could potentially lead to thousands of evictions nationwide – shortly before a federal court hearing on Monday.
In a filing in US District Court in Rhode Island, attorneys for the federal government wrote the US Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew its challenged “Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Opportunity” issued last month.
The changes have been the subject of two lawsuits: One co-led by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha with 18 other attorneys general and two governors, and another by a cohort of municipalities and nonprofit organizations, including the cities of Boston and Cambridge.
The lawsuits allege the administration violated congressional intent by dramatically reducing the amount of grant funding that can be spent on permanent housing and project renewals, from about 90 percent down to a third of the funding.