On February 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, and President Donald Trump signed into law, the final fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending bill for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. The bill allocates $77.3 billion to HUD, representing an increase of more than $7.2 billion from the previous year. Key rental and homelessness assistance programs also received increased or sustained funding in the final bill.
The significant funding increase and key policy protections in the final FY26 HUD spending bill reflect the dedicated efforts of advocates and affordable housing champions in Congress.
For more details and information, read NLIHC’s analysis of the FY26 spending bill and review the FY26 Budget Chart for Selected Federal Housing Programs.
The final FY26 spending bill passed the House by a vote of 217-214 as part of a package containing five full-year appropriations bills. This package includes the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill, which supports HUD’s affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs. It also provides a two-week funding extension for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allowing lawmakers more time to negotiate the DHS bill’s funding and provisions.
Although the DHS appropriations bill funds the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for disaster response and recovery, the bill also funds the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). NLIHC has strongly condemned ICE and CBP for their recent use of deadly force in vulnerable and marginalized communities across the country. Arguments that the FY26 DHS bill must be funded to secure FEMA resources are unfounded. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) currently holds an estimated $9 billion, sufficient to cover near-term disaster-related obligations.
FEMA funding should not be used as a political bargaining chip to allow ICE and CBP to continue their ongoing and imminent threats to the areas where they operate. For that reason, NLIHC and the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) are calling on Congress to:
- Pause additional funding for ICE and CBP until, at the very least, there are measures of accountability for and restrictions on the agencies’ actions in communities around the country.
- Pass a disaster-specific supplemental spending bill to ensure disaster survivors have the resources they need for response and recovery, starting with the long-overdue supplemental funding bill for the Los Angeles wildfires and other 2025 disasters.
- Pass the bipartisan “Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act,” which would re-establish FEMA as an independent agency outside of DHS and make much needed reforms to the country’s disaster response and recovery system.
Tell Congress FEMA is not a political bargaining chip!
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.