A shift in the way the federal government funds housing for the homeless could put about 10,000 people already housed in Los Angeles County back onto the street, according to county officials.
The federal Housing and Urban Development department last month drastically changed the funding formula for states and counties, affecting the application for monies already approved to keep people in permanent housing, what HUD calls the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority’s Continuum of Care (CoC) funding for both L.A. County and the city of Los Angeles amounts to about $220 million. Under the previous rules, 90% is used to take people off the street and place them into permanent housing, with case managers, access to doctors, and other support services.
Under the Trump Administration’s new HUD rules, only 30% can be used for permanent housing, while the rest assumably will be for shelters or temporary housing. The switch from the “housing first” strategy comes in the middle of the two-year cycle for funded programs, meaning unless the county or LAHSA backfills the housing subsidies, these residents will lose their homes and have no place to go, county officials reported.
After being sued by nonprofits and other counties, HUD suddenly withdrew the funding plans after making it a one-year cycle. These actions left L.A. County in limbo. The withdrawal before the Dec. 8 court hearing may relieve the crisis only in the short term, wrote Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath in an emailed statement. Nonetheless, Horvath’s office said the county share of homeless funding will run out in February.
“HUD’s withdrawal of the NOFO shows just how destabilizing these sudden federal policy shifts have been for Los Angeles County and communities across the country. The proposed cuts — driven by the Trump Administration — would have pushed people who are currently housed into homelessness,” Horvath said.
The crisis may have been pushed down the road, but it is not resolved, she noted.
On Tuesday, Dec. 16, a motion by Horvath and First District Supervisor Hilda Solis, approved by the Board, directs staff to write a letter to HUD asking that it “honor the original commitment to a two-year Continuum of Care funding cycle, providing ongoing, uninterrupted funding.”
The motion also asks the County Chief Executive Office and its legislative analyst to advocate that Congress pass legislation that will ensure the already approved funding continues and that HUD upholds the initial two-year commitment.
“This is a moment requiring fierce, urgent advocacy, so that the County can retain its CoC funding,” read the motion.
Legislation already has 28 Republican backers who indicate that the Trump-led HUD is making a mistake, Horvath’s office said.
In a statement last month, HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the changes are aimed at “stopping the Biden-era slush fund that fueled the homelessness crisis, shut out faith-based providers simply because of their values, and incentivized never-ending government dependency.”
Esroruleh Mohammad, a clinical psychologist, wrote in a written comment to the Board that the instability of funding from HUD will undermine positive outcomes for those who are housed and working back into society because they would be separated not just from a home, but from county care services.
She wrote that the currently funded housing program “prevents avoidable transitions into homelessness, violence, addiction, hunger, hospitalization, or crisis.”
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council also strongly opposes the new HUD funding restrictions, saying these changes will increase homelessness throughout the nation. “Most significantly, these restrictions will end funding for more than 170,000 people who currently live in permanent housing so they can manager their health, stay connected to care, and remain safe,” the group wrote in a release.