Chris, a Connecticut resident, struggled with homelessness for years as he battled major depression and HIV.
He stayed at the Mercy Housing and Shelter Corporation and was eventually able to get a job and an apartment, which the organization subsidized. The shelter’s help is the “only reason” he is housed, safe, healthy and “living with dignity” today, he said, speaking at a press conference Friday.
But the Trump administration said late Thursday that it planned to cut federal funding for permanent housing programs like the one that helped Chris, who asked to be identified by only his first name.
In Connecticut, the policy change means long-term housing programs could lose as much as $69 million, risking the housing of 6,500 people, according to estimates from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness and the CT CAN End Homelessness campaign.
A notice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development posted Thursday announced changes to what’s known as the Continuum of Care program, which provides most federal homelessness relief funding. Having a disability is a condition to receive permanent housing through Continuum of Care.
According to the notice, the Trump administration plans to lower the cap on permanent housing spending from 90% to 30% of all homelessness relief funding. Instead, funding will flow to programs that provide temporary housing with work requirements, treatment mandates and other conditions.
At the Friday event, held by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, service providers spoke out against the policy, saying that permanent housing is the most effective, proven method for supporting unhoused people.
For decades, U.S. policy has been guided by a theory, known as “Housing First,” that permanent shelter is a necessary first step for people, who can then — from a more stable living situation — move on to finding health care and steady work.
The Trump administration favors a different approach.
A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a press release Thursday, “The failed ‘Housing First’ ideology… encourages dependence on endless government handouts while neglecting to address the root causes of homelessness, including illicit drugs and mental illness.” The press release described the policy change as an effort to increase accountability for service providers by creating competition between them for grants.
Louis Gill, CEO of housing aid nonprofit Columbus House, said it’s hard for people to improve their lives without first having permanent housing. “When you destabilize housing, you destabilize everything built upon it: medical care, mental health, sobriety, income, employment, community, and safety,” he said.
Gill added that the Trump administration’s policy change will force people who have already become self sufficient to start over, especially those with disabilities.
“These cuts ask providers to look disabled, medically fragile residents in the eye and tell them that the stability they built, the stability our government promised them through this program, may no longer be within reach,” he said.
Sarah Fox, CEO of the CT Coalition to End Homelessness, said it’s not so simple to rework longstanding programs to comply with the new rules. Providers are set up to supply permanent housing and most grants will now be awarded for temporary housing with strings attached, she said. “It is a big separation from our morals.”
What comes next
Critics of the new policy said they hope to stop it from going into effect — or find other funding.
Jennifer Paradis, executive director of the Beth-El Center shelter, said she believes the change is illegal. For one, she said, the policy directs funding to programs that help police clear homeless camps and mandate mental health or addiction treatment in exchange for housing.
“Nothing in the law authorizes HUD to require criminalization or treatment compliance as a condition of funding,” Paradis said. She also argued it discriminates against disabled people.
Sen. Blumenthal said he expects there to be lawsuits against the policy.
Blumenthal wants Congress to pass a budget appropriation of $4 billion that specifically requires permanent housing. “It’s on us,” he said.
Connecticut legislators said permanent housing could be funded with some of a $500 million emergency fund they approved on Thursday. Gov. Ned Lamont has discretion over how to use the money, though it’s intended generally to backfill federal funding losses for human services.
State Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, said she wants to “ensure that that $500 million gets spent, and that some of it gets spent on this.”
But she said that the emergency fund isn’t enough to support permanent housing along with other programs that have lost funding. “Do we honestly believe that that will be enough when we are hearing just the numbers for this one issue?” she said.
Josie Reich is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).