- Office of the Attorney General
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Sydney Weiser, Deputy Communications Director
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced that she and a multistate coalition of 22 other states have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for once again attempting to unlawfully cap funding for permanent housing projects, a move that would result in tens of thousands of people losing their homes.
This funding supports permanent housing and services for vulnerable residents who are experiencing chronic homelessness, often combined with serious mental health illnesses, substance use disorder and disabilities.
“Instead of helping us tackle our housing crisis, the Trump Administration is once again standing in our way and putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk,” said AG Campbell. “The court has previously ruled that the federal government cannot arbitrarily impose a new and illegal cap on funding for permanent housing, and we intend to be successful again.”
Just last month, AG Campbell and a multistate coalition won a separate case against HUD in federal court in Rhode Island regarding the agency’s decision last year to impose illegal conditions on billions of dollars in funding for the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which supports housing and other services for people experiencing housing instability or homelessness. Among other things, these conditions placed strict limitations on the amount of CoC funds that could be used to support permanent housing. Congress has prioritized stability in the way the funds are allocated, and the vast majority of CoC funds have traditionally supported permanent housing and other projects that have been shown to provide meaningful support for those experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
On June 1, HUD sought again to re-implement a cap on funding for permanent housing. Without action by the court, HUD’s actions mean CoC-funded permanent housing projects will lose funding or see it reduced, resulting in tens of thousands of people being evicted from permanent housing programs, with states and local governments left to pick up the pieces.
For more than two decades, HUD has embraced a commitment to permanent housing programs and the so-called Housing First model, which helps ensure that people experiencing homelessness – including individuals with substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and other disabilities – can access stable housing without being required to meet conditions like sobriety or a minimum income threshold. But the current federal administration has rejected the commitment to the Housing First model and undermined the CoC program. Last year, HUD published notices of funding opportunities that set a 30% cap on CoC funding for permanent housing that a federal court subsequently found unlawful. Now, HUD has issued a new notice of funding opportunity that creates a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects and transitional housing, which results in a de facto cap on permanent housing. That shift threatens housing for at least 97,000 residents of CoC-funded permanent housing across the country, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
The states argue that HUD’s actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act for, among other things, failing to proceed with notice-and-comment rulemaking and being arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law. They ask the court to declare that the challenged conditions are illegal and block HUD from implementing them.
Joining AG Campbell in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
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