Local governments and nonprofit groups challenge unlawful new Trump-Vance Administration restrictions that threaten proven solutions to homelessness

For immediate release: Dec. 1, 2025

Media contact: Jackie Jena, jackie@publicrightsproject.org

Providence, R.I. – A broad coalition of local governments and nonprofit organizations is taking legal action to stop the Trump-Vance administration from creating unlawful and unreasonable restrictions that seek to shift funding away from proven solutions to homelessness, threatening to push hundreds of thousands of people onto the street as cold winter months arrive.

For years and through multiple administrations, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program has helped provide the necessary resources for local governments and organizations to fund permanent housing projects for veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, and individuals and families with children experiencing homelessness. On November 13, 2025, however, without explanation, HUD rescinded a necessary program notice, replacing it with one that threatens existing services. This move, which could push hundreds of thousands of Americans into homelessness, is being done on a compressed timeline, and throwing the entire program, meant to ensure stability for programs and the people who rely on them, into chaos.

“Cities are again being forced to sue the federal government to protect their communities. This time they’re fighting a cruel, illegal, last-minute rule that would push hundreds of thousands of families onto the street as winter arrives,” said Jill Habig, Founder and CEO of Public Rights Project. “We’re proud to stand with them to defend the $4 billion that helps veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities stay housed.”

After more than a decade of prioritizing evidence-based approaches that reduce homelessness, as the complaint explains, the new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FY 2025 upends the stability of the program required by law, will have devastating impacts for plaintiffs, and cause hundreds of thousands of children, youth, adults, and families to become homeless. The NOFO makes drastic changes at every step of the process—by changing the types of projects eligible for funding, the criteria for selecting awardees, and the conditions grantees will be required to accept in order to receive funding.

The coalition behind the new legal challenge includes the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), Crossroads Rhode Island, Youth Pride, Inc., as well as the County of Santa Clara, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., King County, Wash., Boston, Mass., Cambridge, Mass., Nashville, Tenn., and Tucson, Ariz. Democracy Forward represents the coalition of nonprofit organizations in the matter; the National Homelessness Law Center represents NAEH and NLIHC; Public Rights Project represents the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Nashville and Tucson; and Santa Clara County and San Francisco represent themselves. The Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and the ACLU Foundation of RI represent all plaintiffs.

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As a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Public Rights Project helps local government officials fight for civil rights. We do this by building their capacity to protect and advance civil rights, convening and connecting them on issues of civil rights, and providing legal representation to governments to help them win in court on behalf of their residents. Since our founding, we’ve built a network of over 1,300 partners, including elected officials and 227 government offices across all 50 states, and helped recover over $46 million in relief for marginalized people. www.publicrightsproject.org