The Trump administration is overhauling its largest homeless assistance program, a move that housing providers say could strip funding from about 2,800 formerly homeless households in New York City.
It’s a fundamental change that will shift money away from long-term housing and toward short-term transitional housing and treatment programs, federal officials say. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says it wants to tackle homelessness's “root causes,” better steward taxpayer dollars and help Americans achieve “self-sufficiency” — without any assistance.
But housing providers say the shift in the Continuum of Care program will cut funding for the city by $66 million and force New Yorkers back into the city’s shelter system or the streets. They say the changes come amid a scarcity of affordable apartments and as homelessness rates remain stubbornly high.
“ When people lose their housing and become homeless again, the rest of the system is incredibly strained,” said Rebecca Zangen, chief policy officer with the Supportive Housing Network of New York, an industry group.
“These are folks that are certainly most at risk of returning to homelessness, whether that's the shelter or the streets, and cycling through really traumatic, and publicly expensive systems like incarceration and emergency rooms, hospitals.”
Continuum of Care dollars are meant to help chronically homeless people with other conditions such as a mental illness or substance abuse disorder. In New York City, it helps about 7,000 people afford their apartments through $165 million in funding. The program has embraced a “housing first” approach, a bipartisan model for addressing homelessness that offers housing without any preconditions — and then provides services such as drug treatment, or mental health counseling.
HUD’s latest request for funding applications upends that model.
The new request for funding to cities and organizations who submit proposals was issued June 1, after a year of confusing announcements and funding proposals that were challenged in court and tempered by Congress.
Zangen said only 60% of programs that are currently receiving funding will be renewed for 2027, down from 90% from previous years, leaving supportive housing providers unsure of whether they’ll be able to keep their programs going.
Kevin Rente, chief strategy and program administrator at Harlem United, a social services organization, said his organization has stopped issuing long-term leases amid the uncertainty.
But he said long-term housing support is critical to helping chronically homeless New Yorkers. Transitional housing programs, meant to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing, typically last just two years.
“It takes time for the populations that we work with to really stabilize in order to be successful and flourish,” Rente said.
“Part of the ethic around housing first is you take care of somebody's immediate housing needs first and you see their health improve, you see people decrease use in ER and hospitalizations, you see all types of positive health outcomes that come from giving somebody a home.”
Eric Greene, a supportive housing tenant, previously told Gothamist that Continuum of Care funding helped him finally come off the streets after being homeless for 15 years.
“ I didn't have a bed, I didn't have a key, I didn't have nothing, no mailing address, no ID,” he said. Greene now has his own room in a building run by Goddard Riverside. He said he’s stopped drinking, and doesn’t have to sleep sitting up on the subway anymore.
But said he still is working on improving his health and healing from the trauma of being homeless.
“It is a constant work in progress,” Rente said.
Defining ‘self-sufficiency’
HUD’s funding proposal also gives the agency discretion to reject certain programs that don’t contribute to self-sufficiency. The agency defines self-sufficiency as the ability to meet basic needs without any public or private assistance, citing the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries.
“ That's a much higher standard to meet, especially in a city like New York, said Zangen, from the Supportive Housing Network of New York.
She said HUD previously considered self-sufficiency as being able to live independently, with or without help.
“ When a full-time minimum wage job cannot afford you a median rent apartment where you live, the expectation that people can live without any government assistance is unreasonable,” Zangen said.
Rente said he worries HUD’s new priorities could also end funding for groups that provide harm reduction services.
That can include offering fentanyl testing strips, naloxone kits or syringe exchange programs. Many supportive housing organizations offer a range of services, patching together federal, state and city dollars as well as private funds.
“If President Trump wants to get serious about helping people with mental illness and addiction issues, perpetuating cycles of crisis is not the answer,” Christine Quinn, CEO of WIN, the city's largest provider of supportive housing and shelter for families with children, said in a statement this month.
“Let's be clear: Housing stability is not a luxury — it's the foundation to rebuild a steady life. This is cruelty masquerading as policy,” she added.
