An appeals court temporarily lifted a ban on federal funding changes last week, a move advocates say puts thousands of Connecticut residents at risk of homelessness.
Last week, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a district court ruling that had prohibited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from overhauling its federal homelessness funding for the current fiscal year.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness had estimated HUD’s proposed changes would endanger the housing of at least 97,000 Americans. Sarah Fox, chief executive of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, estimated that at least 2,080 Connecticut residents — primarily long-term homeless and disabled people — could lose their housing now that the appellate court has allowed HUD’s changes to take effect.
“These are people who have lived in their units for 20 to 25 years,” Fox said. “Being forced into losing your housing and not having a place to call home is super destabilizing, and I don’t think that the impacts of that will be felt for generations.”
The agency originally announced its plans in June, pledging $1.3 billion toward new projects that prioritize temporary, rather than permanent, housing.
The following month, Connecticut — alongside 19 states and the District of Columbia — sued HUD to block the plan. A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled last month that HUD could not implement the funding changes.
But HUD appealed the decision, and the appellate court issued an order last week that allows the agency to proceed with the funding changes until its appeals process is complete.
“The First Circuit’s ruling is a step in the right direction to deliver real, lasting results that serve our most vulnerable — not a failed ideology and those who profit from it,” a HUD spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong condemned the appeals court decision.
“This decision is an unfortunate roadblock in stopping Trump from imposing drastic, cruel limitations on homelessness funding that would throw thousands of people out of their homes and onto the streets,” Tong said in an emailed statement. “We are reviewing this decision and evaluating next steps, but without a doubt we will keep fighting to protect safe and stable housing.”
According to Connecticut’s annual point-in-time census of the homeless population, there were 3,847 people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 27 of this year, a 3% increase from last year. A February report from DataHaven attributed the uptick in homelessness over the past few years to rising housing costs.
HUD’s annual homelessness grant program provides around $4 billion to “continuums of care,” regional groups that decide how to allocate funds in order to address homelessness.
Connecticut’s two continuums of care have received about $100 million in annual grants for decades, according to Fox. The grants fund permanent housing, rapid rehousing and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness.
But HUD plans to pivot away from its longtime “Housing First” model, which provides permanent housing without imposing conditions like sobriety. The approach views housing as a necessary first step before people can secure healthcare or a steady job.
The Trump administration sees things differently. In their emailed statement, the HUD spokesperson said Housing First “failed our most vulnerable and enabled addiction,” citing a 27% nationwide increase in homelessness since the agency adopted the model in 2013. The spokesperson added that HUD’s revised grant program will “address the root causes of homelessness.”
A representative with one of Connecticut’s continuums of care, the Opening Doors Initiative at the Housing Collective, said in an emailed statement that the loss of permanent housing would strain the state’s homelessness response system.
“The approaches to solving homelessness that HUD wants to prioritize — transitional housing, supportive services, sober housing and partnerships with law enforcement — all have a critical role to play, but they work well as complements to permanent supportive housing, not replacements for it,” the organization’s Chief Initiative Officer Jessica Kubicki said. “We urge HUD to listen to the communities closest to this work and protect the resources that help people find and maintain a permanent home.”
State Sen. Martha Marx, who represents New London and co-chairs the state legislature’s Housing Committee, said in a text message that HUD was “abandoning proven strategies in favor of what they want to do.”
“It’s another example of the Trump regime trying to force reality to bend to its will,” Marx said. “That won’t work, and struggling Americans will suffer.”
HUD previously overhauled its continuum of care grant program last November, spurring a separate lawsuit by Connecticut and a coalition of states. The states won that case in June, but the federal court did not bar the agency from making similar changes in the future.
A HUD press release in June described the latest overhaul of its grantmaking as “the most competitive funding opportunity” since the agency began funding continuums of care. The press release stressed that grant funding will be tied to performance, increasing accountability for service providers.
The program is accepting applications through Sept. 30, just two weeks after the appellate court lifted the district court’s ban.
Fox said Connecticut’s continuums of care are still working on their applications.
