Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he is making a withdrawal from the $500 million emergency reserve fund created last month to offset federal cuts, using at least $5.2 million to counter the immediate impact of a far larger reduction in federal support for homelessness programs.

The projected loss to Connecticut is $70 million over the fiscal year that runs until October, but Connecticut and other states have sued, seeking a reversal of the cuts and other policy changes abruptly made in November by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. An initial ruling could come this month.

“This stopgap funding is just a protection in place. We want the federal government to fill this gap,” said Sarah Fox, chief executive of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

Midway through a two-year planning and funding cycle for “continuum of care” programs serving individuals struggling to retain or regain housing, HUD scrapped the existing programs and set a tight deadline for applying for the new, dramatically smaller pool of funds.

“They gave zero notice,” Fox said. “You have basically around two months to complete your application, but you have one month to do all the community planning, and they told you they were cutting 70% of your resources.”

The withdrawal is the second Lamont is making from the emergency reserve. Last week, he committed $70 million to partly offset the expected loss of $295 million in enhanced federal tax credits that subsidize health insurance premiums for thousands of residents under the Affordable Care Act.

“I’m finding these moments of crisis are the new norm,” Lamont said Monday.

Voting in a special session last month, the General Assembly set aside $500 million in surplus funds and authorized Lamont to unilaterally use the money under certain circumstances, barring objections by a committee of legislative leaders.

Lamont spoke at a press conference at Liberty Community Services in New Haven with U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District, Mayor Justin Elicker, Fox and other advocates and service providers. DeLauro has filed legislation requiring HUD to renew all continuum of care grants for one year to avoid further disruption.

“We’re here because President Trump is making life more dangerous and more difficult for our most vulnerable populations, people who are trying to keep a roof over their heads during the coldest months of the year,” said DeLauro, the dean of the state’s congressional delegation.

Aside from the 70% cut in the $100 million Connecticut expected to get in HUD funding to address homelessness, the Trump administration is turning away from the “housing first” policies of the past two decades, faulting them for a growth in chronic homelessness and street encampments.

“This new framework is the first step toward righting those failures with increased funding for those high performing programs that have demonstrated real success and accountability,” HUD said in a statement last month.

Jim Pettinelli, the executive director of Liberty Community Services, said research shows that “housing first” provides the stability necessary for the chronically homeless, addressing contributing factors such as mental illness, addiction and other health challenges. Previously, access to housing had to be “earned,” he said.

 “And in the ’90s, folks said, ‘Wait a minute, let’s look at that. Why shouldn’t we be offering people housing first and then wrapping services around them to help them be successful in their tenancy, in reconstructing their lives?’ ”

Fox agreed.

“I will tell you that the homes that we provide and the stability that is provided through that housing is critical for the lives of our community members,” she said.

The Trump administration also is ending some of the separate housing funding for groups assisting victims of domestic violence.

“And so what will happen for the first time is that the DV [domestic violence] system and the homeless system are going to be competing against each other, for a smaller amount of money,” said Meghan Scanlon, the chief executive of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Seila Mosquera-Bruno, the state commissioner of housing, said 34 service providers that get federal continuum of care funding through her agency, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, or directly from HUD are facing a loss of funding after contracts expire, beginning on Dec. 31.