The federal government resumed full operations yesterday morning as the 43-day government shutdown ended Wednesday night with President Donald Trump’s signature on funding legislation.
Housing and rental assistance programs overseen by the Department of Agriculture are returning, but a provision that would have required the Department of Housing and Urban Development to award eligible Continuum of Care Program renewals for 12 months is absent from the legislation, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The CoC program provides funding to local governments and nonprofits with the goal of ending homelessness.
Instead, HUD on Thursday announced policy changes that will redirect the majority of CoC funding from permanent housing to transitional housing and supportive services. The move could put as many as 170,000 people at risk of experiencing homelessness, according to a Politico report.
HUD’s new policy will also require 70% of CoC projects to compete before determining the best programs, “ending the status quo that automatically renewed funding without measuring success.” HUD said in a press release that the Biden administration had some 10% of such projects compete during its four years in office.
“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,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement announcing the policy change.
CoC funding applications opened Nov. 13 and will close Jan. 14, 2026. The program expects 7,000 awards with $3.9 billion in funding available.
The legislation that reopened the federal government included funding for three spending bills for fiscal 2026 that included $26.65 billion for USDA discretionary spending programs. These include rural housing programs for single and multifamily housing, rental assistance and more, according to the National Council of State Housing Agencies. The bill also includes funding for military family housing.
However, that funding may be difficult to obtain quickly as the federal government restarts operations. “There is a six-week backlog with many of these programs, so I would expect there to be some additional delays as they work through them,” Shannon McGahn, chief advocacy officer and executive vice president of the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
The legislation funds most federal agencies until Jan. 30, 2026.
