NLIHC, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (The Alliance), and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) hosted a joint webinar series on May 21 titled, “Building a Federal Budget that Advances Homelessness Solutions.” The session was part of the ongoing Advancing Homelessness Solutions webinar series.
Slides from the webinar are available here.
Kim Johnson, Senior Director of Policy at NLIHC, presented an overview of President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 partial budget request. The proposed budget would reduce HUD’s funding by 44% from the previous year – including a 43% cut to rental assistance programs – and entirely redesign federal rental and homelessness assistance programs. Steve Berg, Chief Policy Officer at The Alliance, elaborated on the Administration’s proposed cuts to homelessness assistance funding, proposed to be slashed by 14%, and “consolidation” of HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) programs under the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program. This change would fund grant-based homelessness support programs at significantly lower levels.
Sonya Acosta, Senior Policy Analyst at CBPP, outlined the president’s proposal to cut funding and combine four rental assistance 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. She emphasized that block granting often leads to future funding reductions and transfers the burden of cost management to state governments.
A recording of the call can be viewed here.
Some of the resources discussed on the webinar were:
- 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 the affordable housing crises, we expanded the series to focus on solutions to homelessness. On the webinars, we share more about proven strategies to successfully end homelessness, best practices for state and local advocacy, and actions advocates can take to advance homelessness 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 end homelessness!