HUD Appeals Decision To Shift Homeless Housing Approach

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development appealed a December ruling that put an indefinite pause on the department's plans to overhaul the way it provides housing to the homeless. 

"President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Scott] Turner vowed a drastic paradigm shift in how America addresses homelessness," HUD Deputy Secretary Andrew Hughes said in a statement. "The homeless industrial complex promulgated Housing First, which has repeatedly failed vulnerable Americans."

In November 2025, HUD put forward reforms to its primary funding source for homeless housing, the Continuum of Care program, "intended to promote self-sufficiency," according to a release from HUD.

Those changes were set to take effect within months. Housing providers and those working in nonprofits with programs for permanent supportive housing were concerned about the immediate impacts, including more than 170K people pushed into homelessness. 

But in December, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island ruled against such a quick pivot on the way that $4B for homelessness programs was spent, NPR reported. McElroy ordered the department to continue as though its November reforms had not been announced. 

"Continuity of housing and stability for vulnerable populations is clearly in the public interest," McElroy said in December, granting a preliminary injunction to halt the changes. 

HUD describes the status quo for homeless housing funding, specifically the Housing First approach, as one that "now stands in the way of much needed reforms for homeless Americans," according to a release from the department. 

"HUD is doubling down for real solutions to this catastrophe and will continue to pursue every legal avenue to reform the homelessness system within the bounds of the law,” HUD's Hughes said.