Attorney General Clark Wins Appeals Court Ruling Against HUD Over Housing-Assistance Programs

In a decisive win for Vermont and other states, a federal appeals court rejected the federal government's request to impose harmful restrictions on grant funding that allows tens of thousands of formerly homeless people across the country to remain in stable housing.

Attorney General Charity Clark and a multistate coalition sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last November after HUD abruptly changed its Continuum of Care program, the largest resource for federal homelessness assistance funding. HUD dramatically reduced the amount of grant funds that can be spent on permanent housing and put unlawful conditions on access to the funding.

U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy sided with the states in December, saying HUD's actions would cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs, and issued a preliminary injunction barring HUD from implementing the unlawful restrictions. On April 1, the appeals court rejected HUD's request to temporarily allow the restrictions to go into effect.

The appeals court said plaintiffs had provided ample evidence that if HUD moved ahead with its planned restrictions to the funding, the results would be "immediately destabilizing and disastrous for their constituents."

A copy of the appeals court judge's ruling is available online.

CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, 802-828-3171