Latest news with #HUD-funded
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Homeless services are at risk during Pierce County's legal battle with Trump
Pierce County was recently notified it would receive nearly $5 million of the federal grant funding it was promised by the previous administration. Much of the federal funding it was expecting to help address the region's homelessness crisis is tied up in a legal battle, making the future of services and programs unclear. On May 2, Pierce County joined a coalition of eight local governments, including King County, New York and San Francisco, in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other agencies. The suit alleged requirements tied to grant funding by Trump's executive orders regarding gender ideology, undocumented immigrants and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices were vague and directly contradicted federal and state laws. Days later, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the administration's grant-funding requirements. 'Defendants have put Plaintiffs in the position of having to choose between accepting conditions that they believe are unconstitutional, and risking the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant funding, including funding that they have already budgeted and are committed to spending,' U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein wrote in her injunction decision. On July 3, Pierce County received a grant-agreement letter from HUD confirming it would receive the more than $4.9 million in housing and homeless funding it was awarded during the previous administration. The services and programs to be funded by the grants include rental assistance, supportive housing, rapid-rehousing and homeless data management support. The letter, signed by HUD official Margaret Keller, said the funding would be provided free from the requirements made by the Trump administration as a condition of the injunction. 'Please be advised that should the Preliminary Injunction Order in this matter be stayed, dissolved, or reversed, there will be no grant agreement in effect and HUD will reissue a new grant agreement,' the letter stated. Pierce County Human Service spokesperson Kari Moore told The News Tribune the county's legal team is 'hopeful' the county will be able to provide money to service providers soon. When asked if the legal challenge had caused a delay to the funding or services, Moore told The News Tribune the yearly funding package from HUD had been signed near the end of June the previous two years. This year, the grant agreement was received near July 7. Pierce County did not answer questions about specific HUD-funded contracts that were either being delayed or at-risk due to the legal challenge. 'Due to the volume of contracts we process and attorney-client privilege, we are limited in how much detail we can provide about numbers and rationale related to our decisions on federal contracts,' Moore told The News Tribune on July 9. Moore said the county was reviewing contracts that could be impacted by the Trump administration's requirements. 'We are examining all federal contracts as they come in and making determinations if we can sign them on a case-by-case basis,' she told The News Tribune on July 8. 'If we feel we cannot sign, we may need to seek protection from the courts.' Moore said some of the requirements were 'overly broad' and 'vaguely defined' putting the county at 'significant legal risk.' 'The vague new terms and conditions have unclear definitions for terms like 'DEI' or 'gender ideology,'' she said. 'One example required us to certify that Pierce County and award recipients do not promote DEI in a way that violates any federal anti-discrimination laws, but there is no detailed guidance from the federal government on what they consider a violation. Because of this, we cannot say with full certainty that we meet this condition even though we believe our programs comply fully with the law.' During a Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting on June 27, Pierce County Human Services director Gary Gant said the county was conducting a risk-assessment analysis to understand how loss of federal funding could impact operations across all its agencies. Gant said the county receives about $100 million in federal funding annually, about 6% of its entire budget. 'Cancellation of the federal grants and programs combined with changing terms and conditions for federal contracts means that Pierce County is likely to lose most, if not all, of its federal funding,' he told the coalition. While Gant said the county is doing everything to review the terms of the contracts, he urged service-providing organizations that rely on federal grants to have contingency plans to continue providing services without such funding. He said the more than $4.9 million recently agreed to by HUD was for the highest-priority homeless and housing projects identified by the county for this fiscal year. Gant confirmed services and programs could lose funding at random based on their individuals contracts. 'This uncertainty is stressful and cruel, but we also know we will communicate as much information as we can and remain focused on serving those who will be most harmed by these federal actions,' he said.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pierce County sues Trump administration over ‘coercive' grant requirements
Pierce County is one of several local governments filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over new requirements tied to federal grant funding. 'This Administration is placing new terms and conditions on local governments that are unlawful and coercive,' Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello said in a statement. 'Our departments and community partners want to provide people [with] safe housing and services. These contracts are designed to coerce our participation in extreme political agendas.' Pierce County's homelessness response relies heavily on federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Last year HUD announced Pierce County would receive more than $4.9 million to renew or continue 10 different housing and homeless programs through 2025. Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore told The News Tribune the grant award ensures housing and support services for 'hundreds of very vulnerable people.' She said the Trump administration has tied requirements onto HUD-funded contracts, posing 'significant risk and harm' to both the county and service providers. Moore said the requirements are related to immigration, 'gender ideology,' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as abortion care. On May 2, a coalition of eight local governments, including King County and Pierce County, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against the Trump administration's HUD and the Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration. According to the legal complaint, the administration's grant requirements outline that no 'local government that receives funding under this grant may use that funding in a manner that by design or effect facilitates the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration or abets policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.' The lawsuit also notes orders signed from the administration which seek to 'ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology,' and to prevent any programs which 'promote DEI.' The plaintiffs claim terms such as 'gender ideology' and DEI are over-broad and too difficult to define. They also argue enforcing the requirements would put them at risk of violating anti-discrimination laws. 'For example, if King County agreed to the administration's demands to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, any violation of the federal terms could make the county liable to the federal government for three times the amount of the grant — further endangering critical services for county residents,' King County said in a statement regarding the lawsuit. Moore said the grant requirements are unlike any Pierce County has seen in other federal contracts. 'They are too broad, vague and risky,' she told The News Tribune. 'It's common for contracts to include restrictions on how organizations can use grant funds, but these new requirements restrict activities of the entire organization or program.' She also said requirements such as ones that prohibit funds from being used in a matter that supports 'sanctuary' policies that protect undocumented immigrants directly conflict with state laws. Moore said Washington's Keep Washington Working Act (KWW) limits local law enforcement's role in immigration enforcement, but one of the administration's executive order demands local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. KWW prohibits such cooperation without a judicial warrant, directly opposing the order. The lawsuit states that new funding stipulations added by the heads of federal agencies are unconstitutional and an overreach by the executive branch, which does not have the authority to change federal grant conditions without Congress' explicit approval. Other local governments that joined in filing the legal complaint include the cities of New York, Boston and San Francisco. The coalition of local governments also filed for a temporary restraining order on May 5 that, if granted, would block HUD and the FTA from imposing or enforcing the unauthorized grant conditions. The filers anticipate a court ruling by the end of the week.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
HUD Secretary Scott Turner lays out agency wins during first 100 days, shares priorities for next 100
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the agency's biggest wins during the Trump administration's first 100 days, and shared HUD's top priorities for the next 100. Some of those wins, according to Scott, include rescinding Biden and Obama-era regulations to spur innovation and creativity in the housing market. Other actions have included reforms focused on ensuring American citizens are the primary beneficiaries of HUD's resources, and ensuring HUD's resources can be accessed in a fair and safe manner. Looking to the future, Turner said implementing work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing programs will be a priority, among others. "We are very focused, we're very detailed, and we're very deliberate about what we do here," Turner said. "Progress and success doesn't just happen. You have to be very intentional about it. You have to be very focused about it. One thing we did on the first day when we came in here is we said we're going to restore the mission-minded focus of HUD… We're called to a specific mission to serve the most vulnerable people of our country, as it pertains to housing, as it pertains to homelessness, as it pertains to disaster recovery, the development of communities, forming public-private partnerships." Promises Made, Promises Kept: How Trump's First 100 Days Stack Up Against Inauguration Day Pledges Part of restoring that "mission-minded focus," according to Turner, has been to tear down "burdensome regulations," such as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule established under the Obama administration and revived by the Biden administration. "We took this rule down in order to restore flexibility and restore the power back to localities. Because every city, every community, is unique," Turner said, noting that under the now-rescinded rule, bureaucrats in Washington had the power to pick "winners and losers" in local communities. Read On The Fox News App Turner also highlighted a new partnership between HUD and the Department of Homeland Security, aimed at ensuring noncitizens do not take away much-needed HUD resources from American citizens. 'Too Fast' Or 'Excellent'? Americans Grade First 100 Days Of President Trump's Second Term "We are ensuring that American people live in HUD-funded housing," Turner said. "Also with this partnership, it's a data collection emphasis to understand who's living in housing that's funded by HUD and our FHA insurance, our FHA-backed mortgages, which is also backed by American taxpayers. We took out the non-permanent residence category out of the FHA, which the Biden administration turned a blind eye to." Turner also touted one of his first actions as HUD secretary, which rescinded the Obama-era equal access rule, requiring HUD-funded programs and shelters to determine eligibility based on a person's self-identified gender. "We wanted to take this rule down to protect the women of America and ensure that when people enter into a HUD-funded facility, they are entering in after sex at birth," Turner said of the reform. Looking to the future, Turner said efforts aimed at helping those receiving public assistance become more self-sufficient, such as through work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing, will be a priority for the agency over the next 100 days. "Social safety nets were never meant to be a hammock or a resting place. Social safety nets were meant to be a trampoline, if you will, a tool to project people into a life of self-sustainability and longevity, and so that's something that we will be concentrating on going here forward these next 100 days, if you will," Turner said. "Our heart here at HUD is not to grow the amount of people on subsidies, but it is to reduce the number of people on subsidies and help people to live a life of self sustainability, really, to change the trajectory of people's lives." Hud Puts Half-occupied Headquarters Building In Dc Up For Sale "We don't want to grow the size of government," Turner added. "We want to shrink the size of government." Turner also said the agency will focus on increasing public-private partnerships to help improve housing affordability and the homelessness epidemic, noting local entities on the ground doing the actual work to affect change are pivotal to HUD completing its mission. When asked about any pushback Turner has received over his slew of policy changes during the Trump administration's first 100 days, the secretary said part of being a strong "servant leader" is to make hard decisions that everybody may not agree with. Click To Get The Fox News App "But, I consider them to be healthy decisions for our country," Turner said. "At the end of the day, our job is one, to be stewards over taxpayer dollars, but also to be stewards over the lives of Americans as it pertains to entering in HUD-funded facilities."Original article source: HUD Secretary Scott Turner lays out agency wins during first 100 days, shares priorities for next 100
Fox News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
HUD Secretary Scott Turner lays out agency wins during first 100 days, shares priorities for next 100
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss some of the agency's biggest wins during the Trump administration's first 100 days, and shared some of HUD's top priorities for the next 100. Some of those wins, according to Scott, include rescinding Biden and Obama-era regulations to spur innovation and creativity in the housing market. Other actions have included reforms focused on ensuring American citizens are the primary beneficiaries of HUD's resources, and ensuring HUD's resources can be accessed in a fair and safe manner. Looking to the future, Turner said implementing work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing programs will be a priority, among others. "We are very focused, we're very detailed, and we're very deliberate about what we do here," Turner said. "Progress and success doesn't just happen. You have to be very intentional about it. You have to be very focused about it. One thing we did on the first day when we came in here is we said we're going to restore the mission-minded focus of HUD… We're called to a specific mission to serve the most vulnerable people of our country, as it pertains to housing, as it pertains to homelessness, as it pertains to disaster recovery, the development of communities, forming public-private partnerships." Part of restoring that "mission-minded focus," according to Turner, has been to tear down "burdensome regulations," such as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule established under the Obama administration and revived by the Biden administration. "We took this rule down in order to restore flexibility and restore the power back to localities. Because every city, every community, is unique," Turner said, noting that under the now-rescinded rule, bureaucrats in Washington had the power to pick "winners and losers" in local communities. Turner also highlighted a new partnership between HUD and the Department of Homeland Security, aimed at ensuring noncitizens do not take away much-needed HUD resources from American citizens. "We are ensuring that American people live in HUD-funded housing," Turner said. "Also with this partnership, it's a data collection emphasis to understand who's living in housing that's funded by HUD and our FHA insurance, our FHA-backed mortgages, which is also backed by American taxpayers. We took out the non-permanent residence category out of the FHA, which the Biden administration turned a blind eye to." Turner also touted one of his first actions as HUD secretary, which rescinded the Obama-era equal access rule, requiring HUD-funded programs and shelters to determine eligibility based on a person's self-identified gender. "We wanted to take this rule down to protect the women of America and ensure that when people enter into a HUD-funded facility, they are entering in after sex at birth," Turner said of the reform. Looking to the future, Turner said efforts aimed at helping those receiving public assistance become more self-sufficient, such as through work requirements for those in HUD-funded housing, will be a priority for the agency over the next 100 days. "Social safety nets were never meant to be a hammock or a resting place. Social safety nets were meant to be a trampoline, if you will, a tool to project people into a life of self-sustainability and longevity, and so that's something that we will be concentrating on going here forward these next 100 days, if you will," Turner said. "Our heart here at HUD is not to grow the amount of people on subsidies, but it is to reduce the number of people on subsidies and help people to live a life of self sustainability, really, to change the trajectory of people's lives." "We don't want to grow the size of government," Turner added. "We want to shrink the size of government." Turner also said the agency will focus on increasing public-private partnerships to help improve housing affordability and the homelessness epidemic, noting local entities on the ground doing the actual work to affect change are pivotal to HUD completing its mission. When asked about any pushback Turner has received over his slew of policy changes during the Trump administration's first 100 days, the secretary said part of being a strong "servant leader" is to make hard decisions that everybody may not agree with. "But, I consider them to be healthy decisions for our country," Turner said. "At the end of the day, our job is one, to be stewards over taxpayer dollars, but also to be stewards over the lives of Americans as it pertains to entering in HUD-funded facilities."
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WV homeless service organizations receive $97,000 to continue missions
HUNTINGTON, — The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington has awarded the Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless and Bream Neighborhood Showers, Healthcare Outreach Program, $97,000 in grant funding to support its programming and operational needs. The two organizations offer a variety of resources to assist people experiencing homelessness in the Huntington and Charleston areas. 'These two organizations provide essential services for our community members in need,' Laura Boone, CEO of the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington, said in a news release. 'They collaborate with other providers to ensure those experiencing homelessness receive dignified care and support.' The Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless will use its money to support a new director position for the Cabell-Huntington-Wayne Continuum of Care (CoC), which coordinates services and partners with other local agencies that assist those experiencing homelessness. It also oversees the administration of funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Huntington. The new position will be fully dedicated to the CoC and will oversee operations, as well as the performance of all HUD-funded projects. The CoC director position and the coalition (Harmony House) executive director have been a dual role for several years, CoC Treasurer Melinda Midkiff, said; however, the combined role was too much for one person. Some of the money to fund the position comes from HUD. The Pallottine Foundation will supplement the funding, said Sarah Walling, president of Harmony House's board of directors. The new CoC Director Cindy Toliver was chosen because of her combined skills in grant experience, homeless services experience and management skills, Midkiff said. Toliver will be employed through Harmony House. Midkiff said the ultimate goal is for the CoC to become a 501(c)3 and become its own entity. Toliver will mainly oversee and implement approximately 15 grants the CoC receives. Last year, it distributed $3.9 million in grant funding to local homeless services. The grant awards will not be given in two-year increments. Midkiff said having a separate CoC director will improve local homeless services by allowing more time to make sure everyone is compliant with its regulations, and to ensure there are no duplicate services, which she said will serve clients more efficiently and improve relations with members of the CoC. Walling said being able to financially support a separate CoC director will create a more equal partnership between local services. 'It will be a more equal partnership by not having a lead agency,' Walling said. 'You will have someone who will be responsible for the operations of the CoC who is beholden to any particular agency, but I think where we'll see the greatest improvement in service delivery is really on the day-to-day.' Bream Neighborhood SHOP in Charleston will use the funding for operational costs, including salary support, utility costs, food for its pantry, and supplies for outreach efforts. The organization partners with a network of providers to offer resources to community members in need. On-site services include showers, laundry facilities and lockers, as well as a food pantry, clothing closet and cold-weather shelter. Through its partnerships, SHOP also provides legal services, medical care, utility and rental assistance, access to substance use disorder treatment, long-term housing, domestic violence services and family unification assistance. The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington was established in 2018 following the sale of St. Mary's Medical Center to continue the Pallottine Missionary Sisters' legacy of caring for the spiritual, emotional and physical health of the community. It supports nonprofit organizations in 20 counties across West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio through the funding of projects and initiatives that focus on health and wellness, food insecurity, mental and behavioral health, substance use disorder, capacity building, and tobacco use prevention and cessation.
