Trump administration gets green light to proceed with homelessness program overhaul

A U.S. appeals court in Boston on Wednesday gave the Trump administration the green light to go forward with a massive overhaul of a homelessness program and its criteria for aid funding.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ three-judge panel halted a Rhode Island-based federal judge’s ruling in March that the changes to the Continuum of Care (CoC) program were unlawful.

“After careful review of the parties’ briefs and supplemental submissions, we conclude that HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development] has met its burden to show its entitlement to a stay pending appeal,” the panel wrote in its order. “HUD has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the district court’s holding that the set-aside in the NOFO [Notice of Funding Opportunity] was subject to notice and comment requirements …”

HUD sought to change the rules for receiving $75 million to build housing for homeless families and individuals, and set $1.3 billion aside for transitional housing and supportive services.

The program’s funding goes to states, local governments, tribal governments and nonprofit organizations working to rehouse homeless people and families, individuals fleeing violent situations and others in need of assistance, which it has done since 1987. Congress codified the program in 2009.

“This is a step in the right direction to deliver real and lasting results that serve our most vulnerable — not a failed ideology and those who profit from it,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner wrote on social media Wednesday night.

The Hill reached out to one of the plaintiffs, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, for comment.

The plaintiffs jointly told Reuters that they would evaluate any possible next steps.

“Despite our ​coalition’s repeated triumphs in the lower court, today’s decision will give new life to HUD’s attempt to radically upend this critical program by defunding permanent housing solutions, which ​threatens to push 100,000 Americans into homelessness,” the plaintiffs said.

The Trump administration has criticized the housing-first approach of the program, the outlet reported. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, nominated by President Trump, previously blocked the administration from making those changes earlier this year and last year.

Democratic officials in 20 states and Washington, D.C., and homelessness and housing advocacy groups filed lawsuits challenging HUD’s plan, claiming that the changes to CoC threw it into “chaos.”

“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,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell (D) said in a statement when states sued the administration earlier this year.