House Appropriations Committee Releases Draft FY26 Spending Bill Cutting HUD Funding but Sparing Most Programs from Drastic Cuts Proposed by White House

By Alayna Calabro, NLIHC Senior Policy Analyst  

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations released on July 13 their draft fiscal year (FY) 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill, which provides annual funding for the vital U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs and services people and communities rely on for affordable, accessible housing, rental assistance, homelessness services, and community development programs. The proposal would fund HUD at $67.8 billion, a decrease of $939 million provided for HUD programs in FY25. 

While this level of funding cannot maintain critical investments in affordable housing programs, the bill also largely rejects the draconian cuts President Trump called for in his FY26 spending request for HUD, which would have a damaging impact on the people and communities HUD programs serve. 

With the release of its draft FY26 spending bill, the House Appropriations THUD subcommittee will next review and propose amendments to the bill (a process known as “markup”) today (July 14), while the full House Appropriations Committee will markup the bill on July 17. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to announce its schedule for releasing and reviewing its draft FY26 THUD spending bill. 

NLIHC will continue to review this budget and share timely analysis. 

Take action TODAY: Urge Congress to expand, not cut, funding for vital affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs!   

Use NLIHC’s resources to take action on FY26 funding, including:  

• Using NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Opposing Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing,” to call on Congress to protect and expand affordable housing and homelessness resources, including NLIHC’s priorities:  
  • Full funding to renew all existing Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) contracts and funding to renew 60,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs).   
  • Increased funding for public housing operations and public housing capital needs.  
  • $4.922 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.  
  • $20 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP).  
  • At least $1.3 billion for HUD’s Tribal housing programs and $150 million for competitive funds targeted to Tribes with the greatest needs. 
  • The toolkit includes talking points, advocacy materials, engagement ideas, and more resources for advocates to weigh-in with their members of Congress on the importance of these vital resources!
• Emailing or calling member offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly! 
• Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.  

National, state, local, Tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,700 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY26.   

Visit NLIHC’s Advocacy Hub for more information and resources that can help you take action and help protect the affordable housing programs people rely on.