ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL WINS APPEALS COURT RULING AGAINST HUD OVER HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL WINS APPEALS COURT RULING AGAINST HUD OVER HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

April 02, 2026

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a federal appeals court rejected the federal government's request to impose harmful restrictions on grant funding that will limit access to long-term housing and other services for tens of thousands of Americans experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.

"I am pleased with the court's decision today to prevent the Trump administration's illegal changes that would throw thousands of previously unhoused Illinois residents back into homelessness," Raoul said. "Congress established vital grants to address the growing problem of housing insecurity; yet, the president continues to attempt to make illegal and illogical changes to housing programs that hurt our most vulnerable residents. I will not stand for these actions and will continue to push back with my colleagues."

In November 2025, Raoul and a coalition of 20 attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 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 2025, and said HUD's actions would cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction barring HUD from implementing the unlawful restrictions.

The appeals court rejected HUD's request to temporarily allow the restrictions to go into effect, explaining that the states had established that if HUD moved ahead with its planned restrictions to the funding, the results would be "immediately destabilizing and disastrous for their constituents."

In 2024, 19 regional continuums of care in Illinois received more than $182 million in federal funding to support programs to address homelessness across the state, including permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing and a broad range of services. Illinois leverages this critical federal funding and matches it with significant state funding. In the last two years, Illinois has increased state funding to address and prevent homelessness by 154%.

Joining Attorney General Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.