A new Trump administration policy would force the country to disinvest from an evidence-based approach to homelessness dominant for over two decades, a move that could push 4,500 formerly homeless Seattleites back onto the street. Now, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is suing HUD with 20 other states for control of our federal homelessness dollars.

On November 13, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new rules for its Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which provides funds for local homelessness services, particularly for permanent supportive housing, the cornerstone of Seattle’s Housing First homelessness policy. 

Housing First programs take people off the street and place them in housing with readily available treatment for substance use and mental health disorders. Studies show that people can better address their social, emotional, and chemical issues in a stable housing environment. People living in supportive housing aren’t forced into treatment, or kicked out of their apartment for using. It’s the best method we’re aware of, which is why HUD has prioritized funding permanent supportive housing since the George W. Bush administration.

But HUD Secretary Scott Turner has changed that. Only 30 percent of a CoC award can be spent on any such program. This “new” approach is really a remix of what homelessness programs looked like before Housing First existed, where people had to prove their sobriety, stability, and “acceptable behavior” before being allowed a shot at permanent housing. Time limits were strict, and most people couldn’t meet the requirements. 

The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Brown and 20 other states alleges that HUD broke its own regulations by rolling out the new funding conditions without going through the required rulemaking process. The lawsuit also claims that making this sweeping change without congressional authorization is illegal and asks the federal judge to block the new HUD rules. 

“Congress designed this program in recognition that homelessness is a crisis that requires immediate stabilization and continuing support to reverse,” Brown said in the press release.

HUD’s new policy could completely restructure homelessness services in Seattle and King County. We put 90 percent of our yearly CoC funds ($65 to $67 million) toward permanent supportive housing. A 60 percent reduction amounts to a $40 million cut, and that’s assuming Seattle and King County receive the same award amounts as prior years, which no one is counting on. Most of Seattle’s homelessness services are exactly the kind that HUD stated they will not fund. About 4,500 formerly homeless households depend on that money for a place to live.

The CoC funding gap isn’t a budget problem that can be fixed by “just buying fewer paper clips,” says Daniel Malone, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), a nonprofit permanent supportive housing provider. DESC receives about $16 million in CoC funding for programming and $4 million indirectly for rental assistance for the people they serve. 

It’s all in jeopardy. To even be eligible for permanent supportive housing, a person must be disabled and have a history of chronic homelessness. “That typically looks like somebody who has been living quite precariously and experiencing a lot of trauma and chaos for many years,” Malone says. If DESC has to scale back services, it’s quite likely that the vulnerable people they serve will “deteriorate” over time, Malone says. 

Permanent supportive housing isn’t just an apartment—it’s a disability accommodation. The chronically homeless people housed in places like DESC have severe psychiatric disorders, addictions, and debilitating illnesses. It’s the equivalent of wheelchair ramps and grab bars in bathrooms, Malone says.

“The people with serious mental illness and this kind of long-term traumatic experience on the street often need a different kind of accommodation, and it is a supportive presence of staff who could help them work on things, who can help intervene when they’re struggling with different symptoms or when they’re needing more help in managing responsibilities,” Malone says.

HUD’s new policy is taken directly from Project 2025—the far-right policy framework that, among a plethora of other things, targets social services like Housing First. Project 2025 isn’t just a policy document—it’s the unofficial governing manual for the Trump administration, crafted by the Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential forces on the American far right. Many of its authors, including Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, hold federal posts. The plan’s goal is to centralize power, dismantle the administrative state, and melt down social services to fit a new ideological mold that often rejects scientific evidence.

State and local government leaders are scrambling to scrape together funds in case CoC isn’t awarded to the Seattle region next year.

City council and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office have MacGyvered a $20.4 million stopgap in the 2026 city budget. Harrell allocated $9.3 million in reserves for federal cuts, and Council added a proviso (sponsored by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and amended by Councilmember Bob Kettle) setting aside $11.1 million.

“We’re going to have to fund permanent supportive housing with local money instead, and figure out what in our portfolio of services this federal administration will fund,” Rinck says.

At the county level, Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda introduced a budget amendment on Tuesday that requires the county to present a plan for a plan by March. 

“This is an effort to try to identify a potential pot of reserves without identifying a specific dollar amount that at least signals our interest in being part of the solution,” said Mosqueda at a council meeting last week.

It’s just a placeholder. We have no clue how much the county will cough up for this.

The Stranger contacted Erik Houser, spokesperson for County Executive Girmay Zahilay, asking how Zahilay plans to address the gap in CoC funds. 

Houser replied that the team was working on Zahilay’s transition to office, and asked us to circle back the first week of December.