NLIHC, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (The Alliance), and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) hosted a webinar, “Updates on Executive Actions, Equal Access Rule, and More,” on February 11 to discuss recent actions by the Trump Administration that have major repercussions for homelessness in America.
Sarah Saadian, Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Field Organizing at NLIHC, moderated the webinar and was joined by Marcy Thompson, Vice President of Programs and Policy at the Alliance, Steve Berg, Chief Policy Officer at the Alliance, and Anna Bailey, Senior Policy Analyst at CBPP.
Sarah began by reminding everyone of the importance of meeting this moment while also holding onto long-term goals to ensure everyone has a safe, affordable place to live. Marcy and Steve provided an in-depth overview of recent actions by the Trump Administration that would impact homeless shelter and service providers and unhoused people, including the attempt to freeze all federal assistance, including HUD resources, efforts to roll back enforcement of the Equal Access Rule which provides protections to LBGTQ+ people experiencing homelessness, and the confirmation of Scott Turner to lead HUD. Anna discussed the congressional agenda for 2025, including how negotiations over spending bills and a budget package could result in deep cuts to affordable housing and homelessness funding or restrict access to healthcare, food security, and other basic needs. All of this would worsen homelessness and housing insecurity, while Republican policymakers pursue deep tax cuts for the wealthy. Sarah urged participants to contact their members of Congress about these threats and to urge them to protect investments that help our nation’s lowest-income and most marginalized people afford housing and meet their basic needs.
A recording of the call can be viewed here.
Resources discussed on the webinar:
- President Trump’s Executive Orders.
- Letter from Ann Oliva, Alliance CEO, on the recent executive orders.
- Message from NLIHC on the impacts of the recent Trump Administration executive orders.
- Threats to HUD’s Equal Access Rule.
- Alliance applauds new rule to ensure equal access (2016).
- HUD Equal Access Expectations Toolkit.
- Alliance resources on the Equal Access rule.
- Alliance explanation of proposed changes to the Equal Access rule (2020).
- Confirmation of Scott Turner:
- Threats of HUD Funding Cuts in FY25 Appropriations.
- CBPP report on potential cuts to housing voucher program, including state-by-state data on the impact.
- CBPP brief on how high-income tax cuts harm families.
- CBPP paper on how we should build toward a rental assistance guarantee.
- Threats of Health Care and Food Assistance Cuts in Budget Package.
- CBPP brief on threats to Medicaid and other health care assistance.
- CBPP brief on threats to food assistance through SNAP.
- Opportunities to Take Action:
- Protect HUD resources from a funding freeze.
- Ensure robust funding for key programs in FY25 and beyond, including homelessness programs.
- Protect Medicaid and SNAP in a tax reconciliation package.
- Stay Engaged.
- Sign up for Alliance Email Updates.
- Sign up for Alliance Advocacy Alerts.
- Sign up for NLIHC Action Alerts.
Last year, more than 14,000 people participated in our monthly Homelessness and Housing First webinar series. Given the tremendous interest among stakeholders and the worsening homelessness and affordable housing crises, we decided to continue and expand the series to focus on the solutions to homelessness. On the webinars, we will share more about proven strategies to successfully end homelessness, best practices for state and local advocacy, and actions advocates can take to advance solutions.
Homelessness demands urgent action from all levels of government. We know what works to end homelessness: providing individuals with stable, accessible affordable housing and voluntary supportive services. We hope you will join us in building the political will and congressional support necessary to do so!