Senator Murray Forces Trump Administration to Release Homelessness Funding to Washington State

As Trump seeks to break the Continuum of Care program, Murray led push to secure new guardrails in latest spending bill to force Trump admin to get critical federal funding out the door

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a statement on the Trump administration renewing the first tranche of Continuum of Care (CoC) grants that expired this calendar year after the Trump administration took a number of steps to weaken and distort the program and hold up fiscal year 2025 funding. In negotiating the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Senator Murray fought to secure provisions in law to keep funds flowing to communities, and HUD is now complying with the law and beginning to renew grants.

"Last year I heard from so many local leaders and housing providers about how new and absurd restrictions from the Trump administration could force nearly two hundred thousand people out onto the streets," said Senator Murray. "So I changed the law to ensure money keeps flowing to the local organizations working to keep people housed. I'll be paying close attention to make sure the Trump administration follows the law, obeys the courts, and renews all grants that expire this year, and I'll be ready to hold them accountable for any further sabotage. I refuse to let Trump rip away resources our communities need to keep people off the street-I'll keep fighting to protect and boost funding for these critical programs."

On Tuesday, HUD released Continuum of Care and Youth Homeless Demonstration Program renewal grants for projects that expired from January through March of this year. The following organizations across Washington state will receive a total of $4,461,648 in funding as part of this first round of renewals:

• King County Regional Homelessness Authority / King County Consolidated Rapid Rehousing Program: $1,660,591
• Nyer Urness House: $856,841
• Sandpoint Families Supportive Housing: $447,118
• Ozanam House Consolidated PSH: $538,537
• YWCA Supportive Housing: $262,907
• Columbia Gorge Housing Authority / CGHA Shelter Plus Care: $82,022
• Next Step Housing / Sommerset: $74,600
• Yakima Neighborhood Health Services / Futuros Brilliantes - PSH: $171,966
• Catholic Community Services of Western Washington / Martha's Place: $367,066

HUD's CoC program is the largest federal program for reducing homelessness, and Washington state receives approximately $120 million annually from the program, largely in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, and Clark counties. Late last year, the Trump administration issued a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for fiscal year 2025 funding that sought to upend the program by threatening timely renewal of CoC grants and imposing an arbitrary cap of 30% of funds for permanent housing, effectively slashing funds for this proven tool to address homelessness by more than half. The NOFO was immediately challenged in court by Washington state, alongside other states and nonprofits. In December, a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction blocking HUD from implementing the new NOFO. On Wednesday, HUD failed in its attempt to overturn that court order, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Congress' goal of maintaining funding continuity.

Even before the Trump administration targeted the CoC program with its new NOFO, local governments and non-profits across the country were informed that recipients would have to comply with vaguely worded executive orders that Trump signed in the opening weeks of his second term, specifically related to immigration status, abortion and reproductive care, "gender ideology," and DEI programs. King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties were among the eight original local government plaintiffs that sued the Trump administration over the potential loss of funding.

President Trump's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 would have slashed funding for HUD by almost 50 percent-a staggering cut that would have decimated housing assistance programs, making millions of Americans vulnerable to homelessness. His budget also proposed consolidating the CoC program with the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program within the formula-based Emergency Solutions Grants program and time-limiting assistance to two years, all while reducing overall funding by $532 million, or 12 percent. In addition, President Trump's budget also proposed to eliminate major formula programs communities rely upon to develop new affordable housing and for community development activities.

In the face of these drastic cuts, Senator Murray led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding for affordable housing and homelessness safety nets. In the government funding bill Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026, Senator Murray secured a $4.1 billion-or 6 percent-increase in rental assistance programs and a $366 million increase in homeless assistance programs, while rejecting President Trump's proposals to block-grant, and impose harmful work requirements and time limits on these critical programs that support over 10 million Americans. Notably, Murray secured new guardrails to protect Continuum of Care grants from Trump administration sabotage. The legislation requires HUD to renew Continuum of Care grants expiring during the first quarter of calendar year 2026; all grants expiring in the second quarter of calendar year 2026 if HUD did not make awards by April 1, 2026; and all remaining grants expiring during calendar year 2026 if not awarded by July 1, 2026. On Tuesday, HUD announced it would release funds to renew all projects that expired during the first quarter. Further CoC grant renewals are expected, as HUD has previously acknowledged to the courts that it is now out of time to run a competitive process that meets the deadlines set by this year's funding bill.

In September, Senator Murray also called for an investigation into HUD's handling of the grant award process for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program, after HUD notified communities across the country that it was once again scrapping the grant application process it had just run-for the second time-and that it was now forcing organizations to apply for funding for a third time. On Tuesday, a district court ruled that HUD violated the law with the way it handled the CoC Builds awards. And in November, Senator Murray led Democrats in a letter to Secretary Turner calling on him to immediately halt reported plans to make drastic changes to the Continuum of Care program, which could result in nearly 200,000 Americans being forced out of their housing and back into homelessness.

###