Murray, Gillibrand Call on HUD Inspector General to Look Into Trump Admin’s Failure to Award Homeless Assistance Funding, Chaotic Grant Application Process

ICYMI: In Everett, Murray Holds Roundtable on Trump Putting $16.7 Million for Snohomish County Homelessness Prevention At Risk, Hears from Affected Organizations

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, sent a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Inspector General calling for an investigation into the Department's handling of the grant award process for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program, which Congress provided $75 million for to help communities address homelessness.

Late last week, HUD notified the Committee and 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 is now forcing organizations to apply for funding for a third time, with just 7 days to apply and just 25 days until the funding expires at the end of the month. HUD has also imposed a bevy of unacceptable new policy changes that put these funds at serious risk of never reaching the communities and people who need them.

"We write to you today to request that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) review recent actions taken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related to the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds funding competition," write Murray and Gillibrand. "Specifically, we ask that the HUD OIG address whether HUD's actions knowingly violated or intentionally circumvented Federal statutes, and whether HUD's actions raise other concerns of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement. The funding at issue will expire at the end of the month on September 30, 2025, and this Administration is forcing grantees to apply for the same pot of funding for the third time just days before they expire."

"We have a homelessness and affordable housing crisis in our country," they write. "This is a direct result of a long-standing, structural shortage of housing across our country-a problem felt by Americans at every income level. Instead of working to solve the affordable housing shortage, the Trump Administration is choosing to disparage people who are homeless. Faith-based, nonprofit, and local community organizations work, day in and day out, to support those who fall into homelessness, but HUD is making this already difficult job harder by withholding Congressionally appropriated funds and requiring organizations to jump through excessive hurdles."

Senators Murray and Gillibrand underscore in the letter how the chaotic grant application process has consumed precious time that local organizations should have been spending on their work addressing homelessness-and how it has put the funding at risk altogether, as funds expire at the end of the month. "Running three separate and very different funding competitions for the same set of funds is inefficient, wasteful, and no way to run any program. This Administration has now wasted hundreds of hours of local organizations' time that could-and should-have been spent working to address homelessness," they write. "This third CoC Builds NOFO includes a litany of problematic policy changes that reflect the Administration's punitive and antiquated approaches to homelessness that decades of research have proven to be ineffective and costly. However, considering the decision to re-issue this NOFO just 25 days prior to the end of the fiscal year, it also seems that HUD's end goal is simply for these funds to go unspent."

Senator Murray has been calling out how HUD's approach has put critical resources to address homelessness at risk and pressing the Department for answers. In May, she held a roundtable in Everett, Washington, to discuss how the moves have put over $16 million in homelessness prevention funding at risk for Snohomish County.

The full letter is available HERE and below:

The Honorable Brian Harrison

Acting Inspector General

Office of Inspector General

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

451 7^th Street SW

Washington, D.C. 20410

Dear Acting Inspector General Harrison:

We write to you today to request that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) review recent actions taken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related to the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds funding competition. Specifically, we ask that the HUD OIG address whether HUD's actions knowingly violated or intentionally circumvented Federal statutes, and whether HUD's actions raise other concerns of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement. The funding at issue will expire at the end of the month on September 30, 2025, and this Administration is forcing grantees to apply for the same pot of funding for the third time just days before they expire.

We have a homelessness and affordable housing crisis in our country-homelessness in America is at an all-time high. This is a direct result of a long-standing, structural shortage of housing across our country-a problem felt by Americans at every income level. Instead of working to solve the affordable housing shortage, the Trump Administration is choosing to disparage people who are homeless. Faith-based, nonprofit, and local community organizations work, day in and day out, to support those who fall into homelessness, but HUD is making this already difficult job harder by withholding Congressionally appropriated funds and requiring organizations to jump through excessive hurdles.

On Friday, September 5, 2025, HUD notified Congress (attached) of its plan to issue a third notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the $75 million provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328) for one-time competitive grants for new permanent supportive housing. These funds for "CoC Builds" were provided by Congress to aid communities in their ability to address increasing levels of homelessness, where needs are particularly acute among people with disabilities and the quickly growing number of seniors who are homeless for the very first time and who are facing historically high rents, fixed incomes, and high levels of service needs. This is the third CoC Builds NOFO that HUD has published over the past year for the fiscal year 2023 (FY2023) funding. HUD's unpredictable and capricious decision-making has put a tremendous burden on local community organizations, requiring staff to apply, reapply, and then reapply again for the same amount of funding-each time with different rules and with less time to apply.

For background, the Biden Administration issued the first CoC Builds NOFO on July 18, 2024, making $175 million available ($75 million appropriated in FY2023 as well as the $100 million appropriated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42)). We understand that HUD had nearly completed the applicant selection process when the Administration changed. However, rather than moving forward with that process, which would have been consistent with past practice during prior Administration changes, HUD published a new CoC Builds NOFO on May 16, 2025, replacing the previous NOFO, competing only the FY2023 funds, and forcing applicants to start all over again. Homeless assistance providers were given 40 days to submit brand new applications, and HUD processed those applications in a fraction of the usual time needed to do that work.

On August 5, 2025, HUD notified Congress of their intent to award funds (email attached) to 14 projects in 12 states in response to the second (May 2025) CoC Builds NOFO. Despite the embargo on those awards lifting on August 11, 2025, HUD never sent any award letters. Grantees were left in limbo until Friday, September 5, when HUD notified homeless assistance providers that they would have to reapply a third time and would have only one week to do so under an entirely different NOFO. New applications are due on September 12, which means HUD has just 12 business days to review applications for eligibility, select awardees, notify Congress of awards, and obligate funds prior to the September 30, 2025 deadline.

Running three separate and very different funding competitions for the same set of funds is inefficient, wasteful, and no way to run any program. This Administration has now wasted hundreds of hours of local organizations' time that could-and should-have been spent working to address homelessness. This third CoC Builds NOFO includes a litany of problematic policy changes that reflect the Administration's punitive and antiquated approaches to homelessness that decades of research have proven to be ineffective and costly. However, considering the decision to re-issue this NOFO just 25 days prior to the end of the fiscal year, it also seems that HUD's end goal is simply for these funds to go unspent.

We ask that your office review HUD's actions related to the latest CoC Builds NOFO and address the following questions:

1. Prior to publication, did HUD conduct a legal analysis on whether the latest CoC Builds NOFO met:
   1. The statutory purposes for which funds were provided;
   2. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended; and
   3. The requirements of the HUD Reform Act and its core intent of preventing HUD funds from being "abused for political purposes or personal gain at the expense of those in need"^[1]?
2. If legal analysis was conducted, what issues were flagged and remained unresolved at publication, and what was the rationale for leaving those issues unaddressed?
3. By statute, HUD is required to award CoC Build funds "on a competitive basis, based on need and other factors"^[2], to provide not less than 30 days for applications and use "objective measures of housing need, project merit, or efficient use of resources" ^[3]. What legal analysis did HUD conduct on whether the form and content of the latest CoC Builds NOFO meets these statutory requirements? What analysis was conducted on the extent to which the new rating factors would limit eligibility and exclude most parts of the country with the highest levels of homelessness?
4. The latest funding notice supports medical respite, which by design typically provides only temporary, transitional housing that aims to act as a cost-effective bridge for addressing acute needs until those individuals can access less costly permanent supportive housing. Did HUD consider whether such use may violate the Purpose Statute^[4] and what the implications would be for thoughtful project designs when the application period was limited to 7 days?
5. HUD has recently changed its funds control policies for several grant programs to redefine the point of obligation from signing a grant agreement to the point at which HUD sends the grant award letter to an awardee. What analysis has HUD conducted on whether these changes are consistent with appropriations law, particularly considering previous Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinions highlighted in the GAO Red Book?
6. Did HUD adhere to all other aspects of the HUD Reform Act, and has HUD disclosed details of the latest CoC Builds NOFO or any other NOFO to external entities prior to their publication that would unfairly advantage certain applicants?
7. How has HUD's processes and capacity to oversee and enforce the HUD Reform Act changed since January 2025?
8. How many total hours have been spent by Continuum of Care and local nonprofits in applying, reapplying, and reapplying again for the CoC Builds funding rather than focused on service delivery and system improvement?
9. How many total hours have been spent by HUD staff to develop three NOFOs, review applications, and select awardees?

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to these important questions.

Sincerely,

###

[1] Statement on the Signing of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, President George H.W. Bush, (December 15, 1989), https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/1341.

[2] Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328.

[3] 42 U.S.C. § 3545 (a)(3).

[4] 31 U.S.C. § 1301.