Federal policy addressing homelessness has faced significant disruption over the past year. Actions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to change long-standing homelessness programs have resulted in funding delays, shifting guidance, revised rules, staffing reductions, and legal challenges.
Together, these developments have introduced uncertainty into a system that relies heavily on stability and predictability. The resulting funding uncertainty places many formerly homeless individuals at risk of losing housing, underscoring the need for congressional attention.
For decades, federal homelessness policy has been grounded in a well-established principle: people are more likely to regain stability when they have access to permanent, affordable housing paired with supportive services. This approach, known as supportive housing, combines housing with treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders and has helped hundreds of thousands of people rebuild their lives.
Supportive housing reflects the reality that maintaining sobriety, employment, and good health is far more difficult for individuals who are unsheltered or moving repeatedly through temporary shelters. Current policy shifts at HUD, however, place greater emphasis on short-term shelter models and stricter requirements, raising concerns among providers and communities.
A substantial body of evidence shows that supportive housing is effective, while reliance on temporary shelters alone, particularly those with strict sobriety requirements, produces weaker outcomes. Communities that invested in stable, supportive housing have reduced chronic homelessness, lowered emergency room, and incarceration costs, and improved long-term housing stability. In many cases, these programs have also reduced public spending.
Recognizing these benefits, Congress embedded supportive housing programs into federal law. Housing providers built systems around them, and landlords participated because funding was historically reliable. That reliability is now eroding.
Across the country, providers are pausing new placements in supportive housing not because units are unavailable, but because funding uncertainty makes it difficult to commit to rent support. As a result, some landlords are withdrawing, and some programs are closing. In New York, several supportive housing projects have closed, displacing residents during the winter months. In rural areas, youth housing programs have shut down, and in the Southwest, thousands face the prospect of losing housing as extreme summer heat approaches.
Supportive housing depends on consistent rules and confidence that contracts will be honored. Providers need the ability to plan beyond short time horizons. When predictability breaks down, staff burnout increases, organizations leave the field, and hard-won community progress can be lost quickly.
The scope of the risk is significant. In the latter half of this year, funding for 63 percent of last year’s supportive housing projects is set to expire unless federal action is taken. This includes $5 million supporting 900 people in Tucson-Pima, Arizona; $12.5 million in Nashville, Tennessee; and $15 million in Santa Clara County, California.
Congress has attempted to reduce this uncertainty by urging federal agencies to process renewals in a way that restores predictability and avoids rushed, partial-year funding cycles. These efforts were intended to preserve continuity, not to signal a shift in policy direction. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains, and tens of thousands of people could be affected.
Homelessness is a complex issue, and reasonable debate about how to improve outcomes is appropriate. However, destabilizing programs that are currently keeping people housed risks undermining proven solutions. Greater consistency, adherence to existing commitments, and sufficient planning time would allow communities to respond responsibly and effectively.
The evidence remains clear: increasing access to housing reduces homelessness, and supportive housing improves lives while managing public costs. When policy instability disrupts these systems, it is vulnerable individuals who bear the consequences.
Deborah De Santis is President and CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
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