The freshly redesigned website for the the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows a picturesque cul-de-sac of cookie-cutter homes against a sunset and a quote from Secretary Scott Turner: “God blessed us with this great nation, and together, we can increase self-sufficiency and empower Americans to climb the economic ladder toward a brighter future.”
But for unhoused people and service providers navigating this year’s cuts to HUD, that future looks a bit dimmer. Some organizations working to reduce homelessness have faced contract cancelations and funding delays, while several still haven’t received a grant agreement that HUD usually sends by January or February each year.
Martha Are, CEO of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida in Orlando, said her organization and others serving communities hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton received an extension for applications for HUD’s Continuum of Care program last fall. That program helps communities coordinate services, data collection and other resources to make fighting homelessness more collaborative and efficient.
HUD announced those awards in March, but Are said her organization has not yet received its grant agreement. Are said the majority of the nonprofit’s HUD contracts are not up for renewal until the final quarter of 2025, but it will begin experiencing funding difficulties in the next couple of months if HUD continues to delay the contracts.
“We will definitely be in pain by the end of summer if we don’t have them,” Are said.
On Jan. 17, under the outgoing Biden administration, HUD announced it would award more than $3.5 billion to the Continuum of Care program.
In a press conference on April 10, National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Ann Oliva said that HUD usually sends Continuum of Care grant agreements within a few weeks of the initial awards announcement. But Oliva said that grantees did not begin receiving agreements until March, and HUD rescinded and reissued them a week later with new spending restrictions.
“There was a lot of new language in these grant agreements that they had never seen before and that was not in alignment with the notice of funding opportunity under which they applied for these dollars,” Oliva said.
According to HUD records, the agency awarded $4.9 million to the Continuum of Care for Tacoma, Lakewood and Pierce County, Washington. Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore said by email last week that the county has not yet received its grant agreement but added: “Waiting on grant agreements from HUD is pretty typical.”
HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett wouldn’t answer why some recipients haven’t received a Continuum of Care grant agreement from the agency. She also wouldn’t answer how many organizations haven’t gotten their agreement yet.
HUD hasn’t provided nonprofits with guidance on new grant requirements
The revised Continuum of Care grant agreements require recipients not to use the funds to promote “gender ideology,” which a Jan. 20 executive order from Trump describes as replacing biological sex “with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity.” The order said gender ideology “includes the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex.” (Researchers in medicine and other fields acknowledge that gender is complex and exists on a spectrum.)
Under the revised agreements, grantees can’t spend the money to fund or promote abortions or illegal immigration. Recipients also can’t run programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, which the Trump administration has claimed violate the Civil Rights Act.
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Oliva said that this “language was written very broadly and vaguely, and it created a lot of chaos and confusion” for grant recipients across the country.
“We are concerned that these new requirements could have a chilling effect on some of the most vulnerable people who experience homelessness in our country,” she said.
These vulnerable people, Oliva said, include queer youth, immigrants and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, who may be afraid to ask for assistance if it is tied to questions about their immigration status, gender or sexuality. Further, Oliva said, grantees are unsure about how to comply with the new requirements in the grant agreements. Many are small nonprofits without access to legal counsel to help them navigate these requirements.
Mark Smith, CEO of Housing Solutions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said his organization renewed its grant agreements in early January during the final days of the Biden administration, but the uncertainty created by the new language is concerning for all Continuum of Care organizations. In the past, HUD typically provided additional guidance for changes in grant requirements, but the agency has not offered such guidance this time.
“There’s just not a great deal of clarity yet,” Smith said. “Uncertainty, in terms of what’s eligible, what’s reimbursable, what’s required, puts nonprofits into an awkward position.”
“We’re getting legal counsel,” he added. “We encourage all of our partners to get legal counsel, and then we try to keep track of what’s becoming required or enforceable, but that seems to change pretty frequently.”
Some homeless service providers said HUD’s funding cuts and delays haven’t impacted their work.
Meghan Mueller, CEO of The Homeless Alliance in Oklahoma City, said that the nonprofit has been unaffected by changes at HUD, but a funding freeze would have disrupted services to more than 500 people, including about 200 kids.
“These federal grants we rely on are not just numbers on a balance sheet. They represent hope and safety for families and children who will be forced back onto the streets and into already overloaded shelters” if funding were disrupted, she said by email.
HUD employees face high stress levels and lower productivity
Antonio Gaines is president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Council 222, the union that represents HUD employees. He said HUD employees are also experiencing uncertainty due to the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to reduce the agency’s workforce by as much as 50%.
According to an AFGE survey from February, which gathered responses from 1,500 of the 5,300 employees represented by HUD’s union, about 80% of respondents reported stress levels of 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5. More than 90% of respondents said their work-life balance was a top challenge.
“Employees express difficulty focusing on their duties due to constant uncertainty and this directly impacts efficiency,” a report on the survey said. “There’s a notable decrease in morale, productivity, efficiency and job satisfaction.”
Survey respondents told researchers: “The constant changes are making it hard to focus on anything else,” and, “I’m finding it hard to concentrate on complex tasks with all the stress.”
Gaines said that many respondents felt the stress and uncertainty resulting from workforce reduction efforts—including the Office of Personnel Management’s Deferred Resignation Program known as the Fork in the Roadand the firing, rehiring and halting of rehiring of probationary workers due to court decisions and reversals—has negatively impacted the “confidence that they’re going to be able to serve the public.”
Renee Willis, interim president and CEO of the·National Low Income Housing Coalition, said during the April 10 press conference that “efforts to decimate HUD’s workforce will be disastrous for communities relying on the agency for rental assistance and for people experiencing homelessness.”
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, more than 10 million people receive federal rental assistance, including 2.1 million seniors and 2.6 million people with disabilities.
“HUD programs only work if there are people at HUD to administer them,” Willis said. “As a direct result of staffing cuts, homeless shelters will be forced to limit their services or close their doors altogether, communities will not be able to continue affordable housing construction or other community development projects and households receiving rental assistance will be at risk of eviction.”
Are, the head of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, said the contract manager at HUD’s Jacksonville field office announced her resignation in late April.
“To my knowledge, they have not yet reassigned her portfolio to other contract managers,” Are said, “so I’m not sure exactly who in the field office is working on our contracts. … People are responsive—it’s just there’s fewer people there, so it just takes everybody longer to get everything done. The people who are left have more on their plates.”
Jeremy Martin is a news and arts writer living in Oklahoma City. Email him at jeremy.t.martin@gmail.com.
This story was edited by Mollie Bryant. Contact her at 405-990-0988 or bryant@streetlightnews.org. Follow her reporting on Bluesky or by joining our newsletter.
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