On November 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) regarding the distribution of $3.9 billion in annual federal funding to address homelessness. This notice came after the Trump administration rescinded a previously established plan to provide two years of funding to Continuums of Care (CoC), the entities that bring together the homeless services system for communities across the United States.
This announcement represents a drastic change in priorities for HUD and the homelessness services system. It severely limits funding for proven solutions to homelessness, such as permanent housing and Housing First, which prioritizes access to stable housing for people experiencing homelessness as a foundation for getting their lives back on track. Instead, the NOFO uplifts punitive measures that ignore that systemic racism and the lack of access to affordable housing are the root causes of homelessness.
Housing, coupled with life-saving comprehensive support services that meet individualized needs, is what keeps people out of homelessness. Illinois’ 19 CoCs currently support more than 21,400 people maintaining permanent housing across the state, as well as more than 27,000 emergency and transitional beds. The hard limits put on funding for permanent housing could mean that 170,000 households nationally are pushed back into homelessness, including thousands of Illinois households. Moreover, the NOFO prohibits providing services to ensure support meets the needs of populations that are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, including people of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
These policy changes treat people like criminals simply because they have no place to call home. They focus on misguided law enforcement approaches that will only complicate the lives of an already vulnerable population, rather than recognizing and addressing the systemic issues that truly drive homelessness. Incentivizing bans on encampments and encouraging involuntary commitment to institutions robs people of their humanity and compounds the vulnerability of homelessness.
We reject these harmful policy and funding changes and implore Congress to take action to extend previously approved CoC funding as originally intended. If they do not, these policies will not only cause a severe increase in homelessness but will also harm our neighbors and our communities.
