Senate Appropriations Committee Releases and Approves FY26 THUD Spending Bill with Increases for Key HUD Programs, But Without EHV Funding—Take Action!

By Kim Johnson, NLIHC Senior Policy Director and San Kwon, NLIHC Policy Intern 

The Senate Appropriations Committee released and approved on July 24 their fiscal year (FY) 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill, which provides annual funding for HUD’s vital affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs. Overall, the bill would provide $73.3 billion for HUD, an increase of around $3.3 billion from the flat funding provided in the previous fiscal year’s continuing resolution, and significantly more than the $67.8 billion provided for HUD in the House’s draft FY26 spending bill. The Committee approved the bill with a final vote of 27-1, demonstrating strong bipartisan support for increased HUD funding.  

See NLIHC’s full analysis of the Senate’s FY26 THUD bill and updated budget chart.   

Overview of the Senate’s FY26 THUD Spending Bill  

The bill rejects the draconian spending cuts and harmful policy changes included in the Trump Administration’s FY26 funding request for HUD programs, including a proposal to redesign rental assistance into a State Rental Assistance Block Grant, and a proposal to consolidate the Homeless Assistance Grant program into an “expanded Emergency Solutions Grants” program. Instead, the Senate’s FY26 spending bill would provide needed funding increases or level funding for most HUD programs; however, it fails to provide the additional funding needed to address the funding cliff for the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program. Key implications for affordable housing programs are detailed below:   

• Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) would receive $33.97 billion for contract renewals, an approximately $1.8 billion increase from FY25 and from the flat funding level provided in the House bill. While this increase is needed, it is likely insufficient to cover the cost of fully renewing all existing TBRA contracts.
• Unfortunately, the bill does not provide additional funding to cover the cost of continuing the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program, which currently serves over 59,000 households who had previously been experiencing housing instability or homelessness. The EHV program is facing an urgent funding cliff; without additional funding to either continue the program or integrate EHV households into the HCV or other tenant-based programs, households served by the EHV program could be at risk of losing their assistance and falling back into housing instability and in the worst cases, homelessness.
• Homelessness Assistance Grant (HAG) Program funding would increase by $479 million for a total of $4.53 billion in FY26. The House bill would provide a smaller increase to HAG funding, $107 million, from the previous year’s enacted level.
• The bill would increase funding for other vital HUD programs, including Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities, and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program, among others.
• The Senate’s bill rejects many of the most drastic cuts included in the House bill, including a proposal to zero-out funding for the HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) Program. Instead, the Senate bill would provide the HOME program with $1.25 billion, which is level funding from the previous year. Additionally, the bill would provide level funding for HUD’s fair housing programs, $86 million; the House bill would have slashed funding for fair housing to $29 million.
• The Senate bill does not include the problematic policy changes in the House bill, and neither the Senate nor House bill includes the Trump Administration’s proposal to impose a harmful, arbitrary two-year limit on receiving HUD rental or homelessness assistance.  

With both the Senate and House FY26 THUD spending bills introduced, appropriators will need to reconcile the differences between the two bills and come to a final funding agreement by October 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Without a final agreement in place, Congress will need to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily extend funding for federal programs and services or risk a partial government shutdown. 

Senate FY26 THUD Markup  

The Senate Appropriations Committee held a markup of their FY26 THUD spending bill on July 24, culminating in the Committee voting 27-1 to approve the bill—a strong show of bipartisan support from Committee members for increased HUD funding in FY26. Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), Vice-Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) highlighted the bipartisan work of Committee members while drafting the bill.  

“We’ve worked to achieve a strong bipartisan product that maximizes finite resources to carry out a broad range of programs and activities...[including] homelessness prevention and community development,” said Subcommittee Chair Hyde-Smith in her opening remarks. Ranking Member Gillibrand agreed, sharing in her opening statement her commitment “to working with Democrats and Republicans alike to find bipartisan solutions” to the needs of constituents.  

Committee Chair Collins noted that it is critical the committee “make significant investments…to ensure that a greater supply of safe, affordable housing is available to communities throughout the country.” Likewise, Ranking Member Murray stated in her opening remarks that, “overall, this is a very solid compromise bill that protects important work in all of our states,” and emphasized that, while the bill rejects the harmful, draconian cuts and changes proposed in the Trump Administration’s budget request, more should be done to address the nation’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis.  

To keep the process moving smoothly, most amendments to the THUD bill were negotiated before the committee markup. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced an amendment to curb the White House’s ability to enact pocket recissions and reassert the Committee’s power over appropriating federal funding. The amendment would have required the House and Senate Appropriations Committee to approve any proposals from the White House to rescind FY26 funding; under current law, a recissions request only needs a simple majority in both the House and Senate to pass. Merkley emphasized the need for such a provision given the alarming $9.4 billion rescissions package that passed the week prior without either bipartisan consensus or approval from the Appropriations Committee. Ultimately, Senator Merkley’s amendment was rejected by a vote of 14-15, with members voting along party lines. 

Take Action!  

Congress has until October 1—the beginning of the federal fiscal year—to draft, negotiate, and pass final FY26 spending bills. Without a final spending agreement, Congress will need to enact a short-term funding patch known as a continuing resolution (CR) to maintain funding for federal programs and avoid a partial federal government shutdown. While Republicans control both the House and the Senate, any spending bill needs at least 60 votes to pass the Senate, so final appropriations bills will need bipartisan support to be enacted.    

Keep the pressure on your representatives by contacting your members of Congress and urging them to protect and expand investments in vital affordable housing and homelessness programs!   

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

• 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:  
  • At least $35.65 billion to renew all existing TBRA contracts, plus urgently needed funding to ensure the 59,000 households who rely on an EHV to keep a roof over their heads do not lose their assistance.
  • $5.7 billion for public housing operations, and at least $5 billion to address public housing capital needs.  
  • $4.922 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) Program.  
  • $15 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP), as provided in the Senate’s spending bill.
  • At least $1.3 billion for HUD’s IHBG program and $150 million for IHBG-C 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 members’ 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 the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (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.