House Republicans Release Year-Long Stopgap Funding Bill Underfunding HUD’s Vital Programs – Take Action!
Mar 10, 2025
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released on March 7 a long-term continuing resolution (CR) that would serve as a seven-month funding patch and keep the federal government funded until the end of September, when fiscal year (FY) 2025 ends. The CR would extend the funding levels provided for federal programs in the previous year’s FY24 funding bill through the remainder of FY25, and provide funding increases for a limited number of key programs.
Overall, the bill would cut $13 billion in domestic spending from the previous fiscal year, while also proposing funding adjustments for some federal programs, including an additional $6 billion in defense spending and additional spending for some key HUD programs:
$32.14 billion to renew contracts under HUD’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program, a $3.65 billion increase from the previous fiscal year. This increase would likely not be sufficient to cover the needed cost of voucher renewals, and would result in an estimated loss of 32,000 vouchers from the program if enacted.
$16.49 billion for HUD’s Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program, a $48 million increase from FY24.
$931.4 million for Section 202, an $18 million increase from the last fiscal year. Section 202 provides affordable, accessible housing and supportive services for older adults.
$256.7 million for Section 811, an increase of $48.7 million from the previous fiscal year. Section 811 provides affordable, accessible housing and supportive services to help people with disabilities live in communities, rather than institutionalized settings.
Rather than calling for additional funding for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program, the CR gives the HUD Secretary the authority to “repurpose funds made available” for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program to instead fund CoC renewals. A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the CoCBuilds program was released last year, but the funds were never awarded. This maneuver is expected to shortfall HUD’s homeless assistance programs by an estimated $168 million.
$3.43 billion for HUD’s Community Development Fund, a $3.29 billion cut from the previous fiscal year. Most of the funding lost in the proposal would be the result of lost “earmarks,” or congressionally requested funding for community development projects. Some of these, like a $5 million request from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), would fund programs that provide shelter and other lifesaving services to families at risk of or experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic violence, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities.
The bill would not provide additional spending for disaster recovery, nor would it address the looming early summer deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid a potentially catastrophic default on the national debt.
The House is expected to take up the CR on Tuesday (3/11). President Donald Trump expressed his support for the bill and called on Republicans to pass it so they could begin work on a FY26 spending bill, which will need to be enacted by October 1. During his previous administration, President Trump repeatedly called on Congress to enact steep cuts to HUD’s vital programs; if past is prologue, it is likely the President’s FY26 budget request will once again call for deep cuts to federal affordable housing and homelessness programs.
It is not currently clear whether the CR has the support it will need to pass. While Republicans hold a narrow majority in both chambers, the Senate’s “filibuster” rule requires a three-fifth majority (60 affirmative votes) to enact a bill into law; with Republicans occupying 53 seats in the Senate, bipartisan support will be required for this – or any – funding extension to be enacted.
In response to the proposed CR, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) released a joint statement in opposition, and expressing their commitment to continuing negotiations on a bipartisan spending agreement. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) shared his support for the CR as a “simple” extension to “[maintain] critical services,” while Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) released a statement reiterating the need to avoid a government shutdown, but not commenting explicitly on the proposed funding extension. Rather than a full-year CR, Committee leaders DeLauro, Murray, and Collins have been calling for another temporary funding measure that would extend federal funding until mid-April, giving them just a few more weeks to reach a final FY25 spending agreement.
Lawmakers will only have until March 14 – this Friday – to pass the proposed or another, shorter-term CR, or there will be a partial shutdown of the federal government.
Take Action
Urge Congress to pass a short-term CR and a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs!
Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and urge Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:
Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
$6.2 billion for public housing operations and $5.2 billion for public housing capital needs.
$4.7 billion for HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.
$20 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program.
At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY25 funding, including by:
Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources important 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 people 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.
Using our “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing” toolkit: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the FY25 federal budget. Meet with your representatives and urge them to provide the most possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement.
Because CRs maintain level funding from the previous fiscal year, and because the cost of housing rises every year, long-term CRs act as a cut, reducing the number of people and communities served by HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs.
NLIHC and our partners have been raising the alarm for months among advocates and members of Congress about the potential shortfall in HCV renewal funding – the Senate FY25 draft bill proposed a $2.9 billion increase to HCV funding, and the House FY25 bill would have provided a paltry $115 million increase. According to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), if enacted, the Senate bill would result in around 62,000 fewer households (about 141,000 fewer people) receiving rental assistance, while the House bill would cost almost 283,000 households (nearly 645,000 people) their housing voucher. This would represent the largest loss of vouchers since the program’s creation.
Moreover, under the confines of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, without a final FY25 agreement the federal budget may be subject to “sequestration,” or mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts across federal programs. However, sequestration would disproportionately hit the defense side of the federal budget, which would face a $40 billion cut under sequestration. The threat to defense spending is motivating lawmakers and the White House to find a work-around to avoid sequestration. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) noted that he received “verbal assurances” from the Trump administration’s budget office that automatic spending cuts would be “turned off” under a full-year CR.