From an ACLU of Rhode Island press release:
The National Alliance to End Homelessness and the Women’s Development Corporation, a Rhode Island organization that develops affordable housing, filed a lawsuit in Rhode Island today, as well as a motion for a temporary restraining order, against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and HUD Secretary Scott Turner. The suit challenges new funding restrictions that unlawfully condition access to federal housing grants on compliance with the Trump-Vance Administration’s partisan agenda. Plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, National Homelessness Law Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and the ACLU of Rhode Island.
“Instead of addressing the needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, as Congress intended, the Administration is using these funds as a political tool to punish communities that support all of us, regardless of our country of origin, our gender identity, or our mental health needs,” said Amy Romero, Chief Legal Counsel for Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, asserts that HUD’s newly imposed criteria for “Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds” grants are unconstitutional and unlawful. Under the new funding application rules, service providers and communities are blocked from applying for federal housing funds for new permanent supportive housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness if they operate in jurisdictions with policies the Trump-Vance administration disfavors. This includes cities and states, like Rhode Island, that the Trump Administration deems to be “sanctuary jurisdictions” for immigrants; that provide services considered “harm reduction” services for drug users; and that have inclusive policies for transgender people.
“Rhode Island is facing a severe housing crisis, and the Women’s Development Corporation could help address it with federal funding,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “Yet the Trump administration would rather deny that funding and then rail against those who are unhoused. This is just their latest effort to exacerbate the very problem they pretend to want to solve. We are hopeful that the court will reject this blatant ideological distortion of the grant process.”
For more than three decades, the federal government has supported housing providers and communities through HUD’s homelessness programs to help people experiencing homelessness move into stable housing. Plaintiffs argue that HUD’s sudden reversal of the previously released funding opportunity unlawfully weaponizes federal funding to coerce jurisdictions and providers into advancing the administration’s unrelated policy agenda.
The case, National Alliance to End Homelessness v. Turner, et al., asks the court to block HUD’s unlawful funding restrictions and restore fair access to federal housing funds for providers nationwide.
Read the complaint here.
