Dive Brief:
- Homelessness programs that promote transitional housing, street outreach, childcare, job training and outpatient addiction treatment will get prioritized over housing-first and “harm reduction” efforts for federal funding, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced April 30.
- The changes in department funding priorities relate to HUD’s 2026 Continuum of Care notice of funding opportunity for homelessness programs. The notice will be published June 1, with awards distributed by Dec. 1, HUD said.
- HUD last year attempted to rescind a previously approved two-year notice of funding opportunity for CoC grants and issue new criteria, an effort that courts have blocked following lawsuits. HUD’s budget proposal to Congress for fiscal 2027 eliminates CoC grants entirely.
Dive Insight:
The Trump administration has criticized homelessness policies that promote permanent housing and harm reduction, instead promoting a view of homelessness as largely a mental health issue.
“We must abandon the failed ‘Housing First’ policies that have misused taxpayer funded resources without any expectation of results and too often leave individuals trapped in addiction, untreated mental illness, and indefinite dependence on government systems,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a press release following an April 14 White House summit focused on “drug addiction among the homeless population.”
“HUD will promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency,” Turner said.
Homeless advocacy groups such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness have suggested such reforms could be detrimental. Pulling support from existing programs could push as many as 200,000 individuals into homelessness, NAEH said in a press release.
In its April 30 CoC grant announcement, HUD encouraged participation from “a wide range of providers,” including faith-based organizations, law enforcement and mental illness treatment providers.
