The alcove of a vacant building in downtown Raleigh provides temporary shelter for North Carolina's homeless population. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)
North Carolina advocates for people experiencing homelessness are celebrating a decision this week by a federal judge in Rhode Island who overturned Trump administration efforts to tie housing grants to compliance with what critics call a “partisan agenda.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness and Rhode Island-based Women’s Development Corporation filed a lawsuit last September challenging the grant restrictions, which blocked applications from states and cities with sanctuary protections and inclusive policies for transgender people. Service providers with so-called “safe drug use” policies – providing sterile syringes and opioid reversal medications – would have also been disqualified.
Latonya Agard (Screenshot: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)Dr. Latonya Agard, executive director of the N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness, said the court ruling affirms the nonprofit’s belief that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to change the rules for the grants three times in 2025 was an “unethical, unlawful attempt to politicize funding that saves lives every day.”
“Their application process became so burdensome and unreasonable that no agency in the N.C. Balance of State Continuum of Care submitted an application under the third iteration,” Agard said.
Managed by the N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness Continuum of Care, the Balance of State is a regional planning body covering 79 counties. It coordinates homelessness services, secures funding and implements housing strategies.
“Hopefully, this decision marks a turning point in the fight to preserve approved [federal] CoC funding for permanent supportive housing, a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” Agard said.
The stakes of the ruling were high: $75 million in federal funding for permanent supportive housing for nonprofits across the country. The money provides long-term, affordable rental housing and voluntary support services for individuals with disabilities who are experiencing chronic homelessness.
Permanent supportive housing is part of the “Housing First” model, which the Trump administration rejects and is moving to a transitional housing approach that includes work and sobriety requirements. “Housing First” prioritizes providing immediate housing without preconditions such as sobriety or treatment programs. HUD Secretary Scott Turner has called “Housing First” a “failed approach” to ending homelessness.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy found that HUD and Turner violated the law through their “slapdash imposition of political whims” when changing the rules for nonprofits to qualify for the funding.
“Once again, this Court is faced with a case in which an executive agency has made a last-minute decision to make major, disruptive changes to grants within its purview, all for the express purpose of accomplishing the current administration’s policy objectives,” McElroy wrote in her order.
McElroy found the rules changes and HUD’s new political criteria for grants unlawful, and ordered the policies vacated and set aside. The court also ordered money that had already been appropriated for grants to remain available.
Ann Oliva addresses conferees during the National Alliance to End Homelessness annual convention in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, called Tuesday’s ruling a “victory for people across this nation who have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs.”
“Today’s news reinforces a fundamental truth: that the work to end homelessness is not partisan, and never should be interfered with for political means,” Oliva said.
Frank Shea, executive director of Women’s Development Corporation, said the solution to homelessness is “stable, predictable, permanent housing.”
“Organizations providing this housing need fair, predictable programs that are free of politicized criteria,” Shea said. “We are glad the court agrees. Our neighbors in need of housing deserve nothing less.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, National Homelessness Law Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and ACLU Foundation of Rhode Island.
A second victory
Also this week, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected a Trump administration request to overturn another court order blocking similar changes – requiring certain tenants to enroll in substance abuse treatment programs, for example — to the larger federal Continuum of Care Program, which funds local governments and nonprofits that build permanent housing for veterans, seniors, people with disabilities and families with children experiencing homelessness.
A coalition of nonprofits, including the National Coalition to End Homelessness and several cities and counties across the country, sued HUD after the agency rescinded a two-year grant program and replaced it with a new one plaintiffs said threatened to push 200,000 people into homelessness.
North Carolina advocacy groups told NC Newsline in December that 3,000 people in North Carolina could be impacted.
Jeffrey Rawlings stands outside of his office building in downtown Durham. (Photo: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)“We are under attack. The people that we serve are under attack,” Jeffrey Rawlings, a senior analyst for homeless services for the City of Durham and N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness board member said in December.
The change also greatly reduced funding for permanent supportive housing and signaled a dramatic shift from HUD’s longstanding “Housing First” strategy.
In December, a federal judge temporarily blocked HUD’s efforts to implement controversial new restrictions. This week’s ruling maintains that block.
“As the Trump-Vance administration continues to weaponize federal funding and attempts to hold hostage support for people experiencing homelessness — including families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities — we are relieved that the appeals court has left the order we earned late last year in place,” the National Coalition to End Homelessness said in a statement.
The coalition vowed to continue to pursue the case and “remain dedicated to protecting proven solutions to homelessness.”
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