Trump admin targets $3.3B homeless housing program, 170,000 people could face return to streets: report

The Trump administration is looking to cut funding for a program that provides permanent housing to the homeless, a move that may leave those the program aims to help back on the streets, according to a report.

More than 170,000 people could be at risk of experiencing homelessness when more than half the funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) permanent housing program is cut, Politico reported on Monday, citing three HUD employees, internal HUD documents and a person with knowledge of the Continuum of Care (CoC) program.

The cut funds will be moved to transitional housing assistance with some work or service requirements, according to the internal documents and those with knowledge of the situation. The cuts could have a greater impact on rural areas that have less access to city and state funds to supplement federal dollars, the people told the outlet.

“When the subsidy and the support that goes along with those subsidies is removed, it puts people at grave risk,” said the person with inside knowledge of the CoC program. “And most of these folks without these supports will likely end up back in emergency shelters or back on our nation’s streets.”

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HUD Secretary Scott Turner wrote in a  Fox News Digital opinion piecei earlier this month about a “paradigm shift” in the department’s approach to homelessness and housing.

“But our goal is to let HUD use real, proven effective strategies, and there is no evidence that giving free apartments to the homeless without preconditions or participation requirements – like job training or treatment – leads to good outcomes,” Turner wrote. 

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“There is evidence, however, that countless lives have been lost to overdoses in HUD-funded housing because of this failed ideology,” the secretary continued.

Turner wrote that HUD wants to continue to help support work that aims to aid those experiencing homelessness and battling addiction to recover and become self-sufficient.

Permanent housing funding for 2026 is currently $3.3 billion and could be cut in half to $1.1 billion through the Trump administration’s effort, according to Politico.