NLIHC, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (The Alliance), and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) hosted “Building a Federal Budget that Advances Homelessness Solutions" on Wednesday, May 21. This webinar was the latest in our joint Advancing Homelessness Solutions webinar series.
Slides from the webinar are available here.
Kim Johnson, NLIHC’s senior director of policy, provided an overview of President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 partial budget request, which proposes slashing HUD’s budget by 44% from the previous year – including a 43% cut to rental assistance programs – and redesigning federal rental and homelessness assistance programs entirely. Steve Berg, chief policy officer at The Alliance, shared additional details on the Administration’s proposal to cut homelessness assistance funding by 14%, and “consolidate” HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) programs under the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program. This proposal would essentially block grant homelessness assistance programs and fund them at a much lower level.
Sonya Acosta, senior policy analyst at CBPP, provided an overview of the President’s proposal to redesign federal rental assistance programs by slashing funding and combining five different programs – Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), Housing for Persons with Disabilities (Section 811), Housing for the Elderly (Section 202), and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) – into one State Rental Assistance Block Grant program. In addition to the immediate loss of funding proposed, block-granting programs often lead to future funding cuts, and pass responsibility for implementing those cuts onto state officials.
A recording of the call can be viewed here.
Resources discussed on the webinar:
- Take Action
- NLIHC’s Action Portal
- The Alliance’s Action Portal and Summary of Funding Asks
- Overview of the President’s Partial Budget Request
- Emergency Housing Vouchers
- Homeless Assistance Grants Dear Colleague Letters
- 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!