Millions of dollars for homeless services in Bucks and Montgomery Counties are at risk under new Trump administration plan
Officials said hundreds of people, including families, veterans, and people with disabilities, could lose access to housing as a result of the Trump administration's policy shift.
Millions of dollars in federal funding for homeless services are at risk after the Trump administration on Friday moved forward with a plan to cut support for most long-term housing programs that serve people otherwise without stable shelter, according to Bucks and Montgomery County officials.
The plan, which is still being fought in court after the Department of Housing and Urban Development released an earlier iteration of the policy shift in November, seeks to upend the way communities across the nation, including Philadelphia, treat people experiencing homelessness and will reroute the spending of $3.9 billion in grants for a program called Continuum of Care that localities rely on to fund housing programs.
The latest development came last Friday night when HUD appeared to respond to a judge’s ruling in the legal battle by issuing a new set of rules to apply for the federal awards. The new HUD document reduced the amount of funding available for permanent housing by two-thirds, a drastic decrease, said Kayleigh Silver, administrator of Montgomery County’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
The new plan “we believe will worsen homelessness and destabilize communities, not improve them,” said Kristyn DiDominick, executive director of the Bucks-Mont Collaborative, at a news conference in Warminster Monday. The nonprofit fosters resource sharing between the two counties.
Officials said hundreds of people in the counties, including families, veterans, and people with disabilities, could lose access to housing as a result of the funding shift. Nationwide, the HUD plan could displace 170,000 people by cutting two-thirds of the aid designated for permanent housing, advocates say. In Philadelphia, tens of millions of dollars used to fund the city’s 2,330 units of permanent supportive housing are at risk, city officials said in November
Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, and social worker by trade, said HUD broke its “promise” to continue providing support to programs.
“If we can’t trust HUD, how are we supposed to get the people we work with to trust us?” Ellis-Marseglia said.
The HUD announcement came after two lawsuits, including one from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and 20 other states attorneys general and governors, against President Donald Trump’s administration over the cuts issued in the November draft of the plan.
The earlierl plan gave HUD the authority to restrict funding from groups that recognize the existence of transgender and nonbinary people, populations who face greater risks for homelessness. County officials are still seeking clarification on whether that provision remains in the new plan.
HUD temporarily rescinded the controversial plan on Dec. 8 just hours before a hearing for the lawsuits, citing an intent to revise it. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy, who presided over the hearing, issued a preliminary injunction on HUD’s efforts until a new funding notice is issued. It remains unclear to local advocates and service providers the differences between the new plan posted later that night and the original.
“HUD will continue working to provide homelessness assistance funding to grantees nationwide. The Department remains committed to program reforms intended to assist our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and will continue to do so in accordance with court orders,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement to The Inquirer.
The confusing standoff marks the latest obstacle that nonprofits have had to endure after a lengthy federal government shutdown and Pennsylvania’s state budget impasse, both of which contributed to funding delays and instability.
It also signifies a turn away from the “Housing First” mindset, which prioritizes giving permanent housing to people who are homeless as a foundation for bettering their quality of life, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In a post on X on Saturday, HUD Secretary Scott Turner called the strategy “failed.”
Bucks and Montgomery County service providers and advocates at Monday’s news conference handed out literature that said “Chaos isn’t a strategy” and called on Congress to step in, noting that the NOFO process is months behind.
The impacts “land on real people,” DiDominick said.
Housing is also an important resource for survivors of domestic violence, said Stacy Dougherty, executive director at Laurel House, a domestic violence organization in Montgomery County.
“For victims of domestic violence, access to safe housing can be the difference between staying in an abusive relationship and being able to leave and sometimes even the difference between life and death,” Dougherty said.
Erin Lukoss, CEO of the Bucks County Opportunity Council, added that “housing is the foundation,” a backbone for the entire system that tries to address poverty and food insecurity. A lack of clarity on this funding is another stressor for service providers and those who benefit from the resources
“What makes this moment especially concerning is not just the potential reduction in funding, it’s the instability of the rules themselves,” Lukoss said.