NLIHC President and CEO Renee M. Willis Statement on Trump Administration's FY26 Budget Request
Jun 02, 2025
Washington, D.C. – The Trump Administration released, on May 30, the remaining details of its full fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request, proposing historic cuts to HUD programs. While we anticipated significant reductions, the extent of the proposed cuts is nonetheless staggering in both scale and impact. The request outlines a historic 44% reduction in funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs—including a devastating 43% cut to rental assistance.
Such cuts would severely undermine the stability and well-being of over 10 million low-income households, including families with children, older adults, individuals with disabilities, low-wage workers, caregivers, and people who have experienced homelessness. Rather than preserving and strengthening the federal rental assistance programs that serve as a lifeline for these communities, the budget proposes consolidating HUD’s five largest rental assistance programs into a single state-run block grant, while also imposing a two-year time limit on assistance. This would fundamentally restructure and destabilize a system that currently helps millions maintain safe and affordable housing.
While key details about how these proposed cuts remain unclear, the intention is undeniable. Slashing funding to vital housing programs and transforming proven programs into block grants–with added constraints of time limits and work requirements–will lead to significant funding decreases over time, reduce the number of households receiving assistance, and shift responsibility for deciding which households will lose the assistance to remain stably housed to state and local administrators. It will also put the most vulnerable and marginalized communities at increased risk of housing instability and homelessness.
In addition – and despite the Trump Administration’s stated commitment to increasing the nation’s supply of affordable housing – the budget request proposes no additional funding to support the expansion of affordable housing stock. If adopted by Congress, this request would lead to communities across the country losing the federal funding they need to build more deeply affordable, accessible homes.
This proposal is not only misguided, it is fundamentally unjust. It abdicates the federal government’s responsibility to address poverty and housing instability, and it does so in a manner that is both short-sighted and harmful.
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