Boston, Cambridge sue federal government over changes to homelessness funding
The cities of Boston and Cambridge are suing the federal government over the potential loss of millions of dollars in funding for homelessness programs.
The lawsuit, which also includes other jurisdictions and nonprofits around the country as plaintiffs, alleges that changes to the funding criteria for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care program are illegal and will result in thousands of people going back into homelessness.
The changes include barring provider organizations from acknowledging transgender individuals, drastically cutting the amount of funds that can go to permanent housing programs and only disbursing funds to programs in states and cities that follow certain public safety policies.
"Boston's Continuum of Care funds the backbone of our work to house our homeless population," said Boston Chief of Housing Sheila Dillon in a statement. "The proposed federal changes in this year's notice puts our residents at serious risk. Without these federal grants, people who rely on permanent supportive housing, designated to help those who live with disabling conditions, could lose the homes that have helped them rebuild their lives."
The Continuum of Care program provides funds for local governments and nonprofit organizations working to end homelessness. In 2024, HUD officials told Continuum of Care applicants that it was opening up funding for the next two years, guaranteeing grantees a funding stream for 2025 and 2026.
However, in July of this year, HUD announced that it would no longer be honoring those two-year awards. Last month, the agency released the new funding criteria for $3.9 billion aid available for next year — well beyond the statutory deadline for it to do so, according to the lawsuit.
The deadline for funding requests is Jan. 14, 2026, leaving applicants little time to address the changes. And while current funds run out in January, HUD has said the next awards will not be given out until at least May.
"This gap in funding threatens to cause programs to shutter or scale back, as they cannot reasonably expect to find alternative funding on such short notice. And the formerly homeless people those programs serve will lose their homes," the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.
Reversing HUD priorities
Previously, according to the lawsuit, the program has prioritized funding programs that use a "housing first" policy, or provide stable housing without requiring sobriety, minimum income or other conditions. These policies are often known as permanent housing or permanent supportive housing.
The new guidelines cap funding for permanent housing at 30% of the funds given out. This year, those programs make up about 87% of Continuum of Care funding, according to the lawsuit. That means many programs could get severely reduced or canceled altogether.
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told the New York Times last month that this change alone could put up to "170,000 formerly homeless people at risk of returning to the streets."
The Trump administration justified the change by saying it "promotes self-sufficiency" instead of encouraging "dependence on endless government handouts." But providers say conditions like mental illnesses and substance abuse disorder are disabilities protected under federal law and providing housing can help address those issues.
"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," said HUD Secretary Scott Turner in a press release announcing the changes. "These long-overdue reforms will promote independence and ensure we are supporting means-tested approaches to carry out the President's mandate, connect Americans with the help they need, and make our cities and towns beautiful and safe."
The new criteria also require organizations and local governments to follow specific Trump administration policies. Notably, this includes an executive order filed on the first day of the president's term banning the acknowledgement of transgender identities or any interpretation of sex and gender beyond the biological binary of "male" and "female."
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit noted that LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by homelessness, and that HUD had specifically encouraged programs to target services toward that population as recently as last year.
Continuum of Care applicants also must verify that their geographic area complies with another executive order from July asking state and local law enforcement agencies to crack down on public drug use and camping, carry out involuntary institutionalizations and other measures aimed at homeless people. This is despite the fact that service providers typically have no control over this enforcement.
Applicants will also receive priority if they work with law enforcement on efforts such as street outreach or tracking the location of homeless registered sex offenders, and will be required to verify individuals' immigration status before providing services.
"Agencies that serve individuals experiencing homelessness work hard to develop trusting relationships; severing those relationships and turning people out into the street will undermine those relationships and poison future efforts to help a marginalized population who often distrusts systems of care," the plaintiffs wrote.
Effects on Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, $91 million of the $136 million total Continuum of Care funds goes toward rent and services for people in long-term supportive housing, according to the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, which submitted a declaration in support of the lawsuit. Without the guarantee of that funding, the organization estimates that up to 4,000 people could become or go back into homelessness.
Joyce Tavon, the group's CEO, explained that a lot of permanent supportive housing funds subsidize rent for formerly homeless people as they access supportive services to get back on their feet. About 85% of participants are still housed after two years because of the long-term supports, she said.
It also helps reduce health care and other costs as people are not exposed out on the streets, she added.
"So somehow [HUD's] response is, 'Well, let's take the dollars that are successfully keeping a subset of people housed and let's defund that and shift those dollars to short-term services," Tavon said. "Not clear how that is going to solve our system-wide problem of a housing shortage and crisis, lack of strong substance use treatment services, lack of a mental health system."
A large portion of the Continuum of Care funding in Hampden County goes to its 300 units of permanent supportive housing, said Geraldine McCafferty, director of housing for the city of Springfield.
"The changes are very sudden and dramatic, which even apart from the philosophy behind them, just the timing is almost impossible. It's really very disruptive," McCafferty said.
In Hampden county, the funds will run out this summer, McCafferty said. Grants in other areas will end sooner, she said. The program focuses on people who long been homeless, and many are elderly or have disabilities, she said.
It comes at a particularly bad time with homelessness on the rise, McCafferty said. Shelters have been at capacity, and the idea of releasing more people on the street is "really alarming," she said.
"Nationally it's a struggle but we see it locally, too. We've had increasing numbers of people who are unsheltered," she said.
In Boston, Continuum of Care funds go to 19 nonprofits that employ more than 125 workers and support more than 2,000 people, according to the city. Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement that losing the funding could leave more than 1,100 people homeless.
"With 98% of our tenants remaining housed after a year, and a street homelessness rate of under 2.5%, we are doing something right in Boston," said Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of the nonprofit Pine Street Inn, in a statement. "We cannot go back to systems that were proven ineffective and often harmful to people who are struggling, most through no fault of their own."
Tavon pointed out that with wide federal funding cuts even beyond Continuum of Care, including cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, there are few resources leftover to fill in the gaps at the state or local level. She said it's likely that on the local level, nonprofits may begin pulling back on services before the changes are even in place out of fear of uncertainty.
"This was a little bit of a safety valve, a relief valve, getting some people off the streets ... and it's kind of coming to a screeching halt," she said.
Legal challenges mounting
The lawsuit comes just a week after Attorney General Andrea Campbell signed onto a similar suit alongside 19 other states and Washington, D.C.
It's also the second time Boston has sued the federal government over Continuum of Care funds this year. The city signed onto another nationwide lawsuit in May when the Trump administration threatened to cancel $3.6 billion in grants unless jurisdictions followed a slate of executive orders.
In June, a judge in Washington issued a preliminary injunction stopping the federal government from imposing those grant conditions. The Trump administration has appealed that decision.
The plaintiffs in the newest lawsuit have also requested a preliminary injunction to stop the new criteria from taking effect as the lawsuit plays out. Tavon said that would allow service providers a little while longer to prepare for the potential funding cutoff.
"If we can get some time from this lawsuit, I think we're hopeful that through this crisis, we can pull people together and at least do some rethinking," she said.
Reporter Greta Jochem of The Republican contributed to this story.
More on Politics
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
