Nearly 1,800 formerly homeless Arizonans could be at risk of losing shelter as the Trump administration seeks a major overhaul of federal funding for homelessness programs, according to an analysis from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
In June, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new funding opportunities for homeless service providers. The department said the goal of the next round of grants would be to save taxpayer dollars and prioritize addiction and mental health programs. To do that, HUD plans to put new limits on funding for a category of homeless shelter called permanent supportive housing.
Tim Burch is the Human Services director for the city of Tempe and one of the co-chairs for the Maricopa Regional Continuum of Care. He said permanent supportive housing units go to the most medically fragile individuals — people who have been chronically homeless for more than a year and who have one or more disabilities.
“These are your most frequent system users for your justice systems, your hospital healthcare systems, and all of our various nonprofit support mechanisms throughout the Valley,” Burch said.
Providing long-term stable housing for this population is costly, but critical, Burch said.
“It’s better for the whole of the community and that really is what is at risk at this point,” Burch said.
But the Trump administration argues that permanent supportive housing encourages dependence on government handouts.
“This ends a lack of program accountability that has led to waste, fraud, and abuse instead of providing assistance to homeless individuals,” HUD’s funding announcement said. “This [notice of funding opportunity] requires [Continuum of Care] recipients to scrutinize and prioritize the most successful projects rather than automatically renewing funding to failed providers.”
An analysis of HUD’s plan for funding by the National Alliance to End Homelessness showed Arizona now stands to lose nearly $25 million for those programs, putting shelter space at risk for nearly 1,800 people.
Burch said finding alternative housing options for Arizonans currently in permanent supportive housing programs will be extremely difficult.
“What are we going to transition these folks to when the average, working, healthy family is having difficulty affording housing in our area?” Burch said.
Burch said providers in the Valley are now working to tailor their applications to maximize the amount of federal funding they will receive in the next round of HUD grants. But he said requirements have changed dramatically.
“It’s really hard to compete when you don’t know all the rules,” Burch said.
Grant applications are due in August for funding that would likely be awarded in December.
A previous HUD plan to cap funding for permanent supportive housing was already blocked in federal courts.
Arizona, along with 20 other states and the District of Columbia, is again suing to block the latest changes to federal funding for homelessness programs.
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