LAist · on Judge Carter's Oct. 27 hearing on LAHSA's successor
At a Wednesday hearing, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter scheduled an Oct. 27 hearing he called "our decision-making day on so many matters" on who will administer roughly $240 million a year in federal homeless funding after LAHSA relinquishes the role, and said he wants funds transferred to L.A. County by January if the county is chosen. Carter said "The watchdog wasn't watching, and the money got distributed without accountability." City staff estimated a city homeless services department would take up to two years to build; prosecutors have so far charged six people connected to L.A. homeless service providers.
The LA CoC Board voted Sept. 23 to advance a proposal designating the county as collaborative applicant for HUD funds, subject to approval by the CoC general membership; the county moved roughly $300 million of its annual homelessness funding to its new in-house department in July.
Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action executive director Jimmy Jones said the federal shift away from Housing First in Continuum of Care funding criteria could displace 4,000 to 5,000 Oregonians back into homelessness; KATU reported his agency is among those still applying for the funds. Multnomah County said in a statement that up to a few hundred people could lose federally supported housing under the shift toward transitional housing with service requirements, and that it had submitted an application with the goal of keeping everyone currently housed in place. The White House said the change holds grantees “to higher standards of effectiveness in reducing homelessness and increasing public safety.”
Oregon joined 20 other states in suing HUD over the CoC changes on November 25, 2025; at that time Jones estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Oregonians could lose housing.
NLIHC reported that on September 21 the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted summary judgment to a coalition of attorneys general led by New York and vacated HUD’s November 26, 2025 notice designating CDBG, HOME, Continuum of Care and other programs as “federal public benefits” requiring immigration-status verification under PRWORA, along with parallel notices from DOJ, HHS, Labor and Education. The court held the agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by skipping notice-and-comment rulemaking and left open the possibility of future rulemaking. The court docket lists the case as New York et al. v. U.S. Department of Justice et al., No. 1:25-cv-00345 (D.R.I.), with 21 attorneys general as plaintiffs.
HUD’s PRWORA notice was published in the Federal Register on November 26, 2025; a February 18, 2026 DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion separately concluded PRWORA applies to all HUD housing programs.
Continuums of Care submitted FY2026 applications against the reinstated September 30 deadline, with NAHRO’s general counsel saying applicants did not know what they would receive under the new program rules. NAHRO said HUD’s proposed 30% cap on permanent supportive housing could affect as many as 97,000 households, and Community Solutions estimated up to $1.8 billion in annual rental payments at risk. NAHRO also said that of roughly 6,400 FY2024 renewal grants Congress required HUD to fund, only about 5,300 had been fully executed.
HUD’s competition page states it has extended the September 30 application deadline to October 14, 2026 for CA-600 (Los Angeles) applications only, and that comments on a Federal Register notice on proposed activities are due October 13.
AP reporters Laura Ungar and Geoff Mulvihill reported on providers nationwide adjusting to the administration’s redirection of federal homelessness funding from permanent supportive housing toward transitional housing of up to two years with required treatment. The story cited HUD’s estimate of nearly 750,000 people homeless last year, up 31% from 2019, and roughly 173,000 permanent supportive housing beds for chronically homeless people plus 235,000 for other populations. It noted the FY2027 budget proposal would eliminate the Continuum of Care program and that an appeals court this month allowed the policy changes to proceed.
In the prior CoC competition more than 60% of funds went to permanent supportive housing and 1% to transitional housing, per the AP’s account of HUD data.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved S. 5354, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Modernization Act of 2026, on September 23, sending the first NAHASDA reauthorization in more than a decade to the full Senate. The bill, led by Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Brian Schatz, would reauthorize NAHASDA through 2033, expand financing tools, streamline environmental reviews and strengthen support for Native veterans; Murkowski offered an amendment raising the $5,000 de minimis threshold to $22,500. The House companion, introduced in March, remains in committee.
The committee held its legislative hearing on S. 5354 on September 16, one week before the markup.
National Network for Youth · on the First Circuit's vacatur and remand of the CoC NOFO ruling
The First Circuit on September 24 vacated the Rhode Island district court's August 7 judgment that had set aside HUD's FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO and remanded both appeals for further proceedings after the plaintiffs withdrew the notice-and-comment claim on which the district court had ruled; the mandate issued September 28. NN4Y reported that the NOFO, which provides $4.04 billion and includes a $1.3 billion set-aside for transitional housing and supportive-services-only projects, remains in effect as written, with applications due September 30 at 8:00 PM ET, and that the district court can now rule on the plaintiffs' remaining claims, including the threshold criteria and the law-enforcement-policy requirement. HUD's competition page states the department must make awards by December 1, 2026, and that CA-600 (Los Angeles) applications have a separate October 14 deadline.
The First Circuit's September 16 stay order found HUD “has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits” of its argument that the set-aside is not a “bonus or other incentive” under 42 U.S.C. § 11386b(d).
A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday declined, 2-1, to stay U.S. District Judge David Carter's preliminary injunction blocking HUD from suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, writing that HUD's explanation for suspending LAHSA during the FY2026 application cycle "runs counter to the evidence before the agency." The order requires HUD to send over grant money it already approved and lets LAHSA continue applying in the roughly $239 million regional funding process before an extended October 14 deadline. Judge Ryan Nelson dissented; the dissent has not yet been made public.
The Ninth Circuit hears oral argument on HUD's appeal of the injunction October 19, and Carter's injunction is set to expire October 27.
The Los Angeles Continuum of Care Board voted Wednesday to advance Los Angeles County as the region's 2026 collaborative applicant for the $239 million in federal homelessness funds from which HUD suspended LAHSA; six entities expressed initial interest, two advanced to discussions, and only the county completed the process. Board chair Benjamin Kay said HUD reopened the L.A. CoC's funding notice to September 30 and later extended it to October 14. The CoC general membership must still vote, and the replacement is contingent on LAHSA remaining suspended.
LAHSA has received more than $1 billion in federal funds since 2021, including $220 million in 2024, according to MyNewsLA.
A Ninth Circuit panel in San Francisco heard argument Tuesday on HUD's request for a stay pending appeal of Judge David O. Carter's preliminary injunction, which blocked HUD's suspension of $239 million in funding for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Judge Roopali Desai called HUD's position on the September 30 collaborative-applicant deadline a "gotcha" argument, while Judge Ryan Nelson said Congress provided for direct applications to HUD by service providers. Judge Jacqueline Nguyen said the panel would try to rule as speedily as possible given the September 30 application deadline.
Carter's August injunction warned the suspension would displace more than 11,000 unhoused people.
SAMHSA awarded $42.3 million in supplemental block-grant funding to states and territories to implement the July 2025 executive order "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets" and the White House "Treatment First" best-practices toolkit. The total comprises $17.3 million to Community Mental Health Services Block Grant recipients and $25 million to Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant recipients for sober and recovery housing capacity, plus a separate $2 million to the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network. The agency said the mental-health block grant portion covers technical assistance, training, policy development, and cross-system coordination rather than direct treatment services.
The executive order directing agencies to prioritize treatment and recovery over Housing First was signed July 24, 2025.
The Louisiana Housing Corp. submitted applications to the greater New Orleans and Louisiana Balance of State continuums of care requesting $42.4 million and $38 million respectively — most of each region's federal homeless services funds, now largely spent on permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing — to establish a 200-bed transitional shelter on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge with a mandatory 20-to-40-hour-per-week services requirement. The Balance of State council rejected the application; a National Housing Law Project attorney said the state could appeal a rejection to HUD and seek to become a solo applicant for the funding. Approximately 3,500 formerly homeless people in the greater New Orleans area rely on the federally funded assistance.
A federal appeals court stayed the Rhode Island district court's August order against HUD's FY2026 funding notice on September 16, restarting the local application processes that order had paused.
HUD reopened the FY2026 Continuum of Care Program Competition NOFO on September 18, after the First Circuit stayed the district court order that had vacated it, and set a new federal application deadline of September 30, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. PT. The NOFO is otherwise unchanged except for a technical correction reducing the required project applicant notification period from 15 days to 7 days.
The competition makes available $4.04 billion, with a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects prioritizing transitional housing, per HUD's June 1 announcement of the original NOFO.
LAist · on unexecuted FY2025 Continuum of Care renewal grant agreements
LAist reported that HUD has not executed more than 1,300 FY2025 Continuum of Care renewal grant agreements nationally — about one in five — as of September 14, according to court documents, with the delays tied to HUD's legal dispute with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority over grant conditions. In Los Angeles, the delays are expected to affect more than 50 local service providers, and dozens of grants totaling nearly $65 million could be affected by the end of the year. HUD told LAist it is not currently required to execute the agreements after the Ninth Circuit issued an emergency stay pending its ruling on HUD's appeal.
The Ninth Circuit stayed Judge David O. Carter's August order directing HUD to execute the agreements; the court is scheduled to hear arguments on HUD's appeal September 22.
House Oversight Committee · on the DOGE subcommittee's homelessness-spending hearing
The Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee held its September 15 hearing on homelessness-services spending, with testimony from Jonathan Choe of the Discovery Institute, Paul Webster of the Cicero Institute and Samantha Batko of the Urban Institute. The majority's wrap-up said Los Angeles has taken in $2 billion in federal funds since 2005, including $220 million in 2024, and that overall homelessness there has doubled. Webster alleged LAHSA's chief executive signed $2.1 million in contracts with the nonprofit that employs her husband; Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was invited, did not appear.
Chairman Tim Burchett announced the hearing September 14, and federal prosecutors charged three people with Los Angeles homelessness-aid fraud the day after it was held.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's commission voted not to apply to keep the four federal roles it has held for three decades, including coordinating the region's roughly $240 million annual HUD funding application, running the point-in-time count, and operating the HUD-mandated services database. The city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County are both applying to take over the roles; applicants had to declare intent by September 15 and must submit applications by September 25. LAHSA's commission and leadership said in a joint statement that "competing against our founding partners would only fracture regional collaboration during an already complex time."
HUD suspended LAHSA from its federal duties in June, putting $241 million in anticipated funding in limbo; U.S. District Judge David O. Carter paused the suspension August 13 but ordered the L.A. Continuum of Care Board to solicit replacement applications.
MyNewsLA · on the House DOGE Subcommittee hearing on federally funded homelessness services
The House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency held its hearing "Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services" without Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who declined the summons and called it a "politically-motivated hearing to attack LA." Witnesses included Cicero Institute senior fellow Paul Webster and Discovery Institute senior fellow Jonathan Choe; Chairman Tim Burchett said LAHSA has received over $1 billion in federal funds since 2021, and said in his opening statement that the federal government spends about $8 billion annually to prevent homelessness.
HUD suspended LAHSA from applying for or receiving federal grants in June, affecting $241 million Congress earmarked for the Los Angeles region.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced $1.17 billion in FY2027 grants to 680 organizations serving veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, which the agency called a record high. $855 million goes to one-year Supportive Services for Veteran Families grants and $318 million to three-year Grant and Per Diem transitional-housing grants, both beginning October 1, 2026. VA said the awards follow its housing of 51,936 homeless veterans in fiscal year 2025, which it called the most in seven years.
VA's comparable award announced August 27, 2025 was more than $818 million, to 235 organizations.
NACo reported that HUD's September 11 Federal Register notice seeking comment on Continuum of Care bonus incentives — for transitional housing, supportive-services-only projects, sober homes, and law-enforcement coordination — is likely a precursor to revising and re-issuing the vacated FY2026 CoC NOFO once notice-and-comment requirements are satisfied. Comments are due October 13, and NACo said it will submit comments and draft a template for counties. The vacated NOFO had directed funding toward transitional housing and supportive services through a $1.3 billion set-aside.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island set aside the FY2026 CoC NOFO in its entirety on August 7, 2026, for lack of notice and comment; HUD's appeal and emergency stay motion are pending at the First Circuit.
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
The Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency scheduled a hearing, "Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services," for September 15 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Subcommittee Chairman Tim Burchett said the panel would present Los Angeles as "a case study of failed policy, fraud, and mismanagement"; the announced witnesses are Paul Webster of the Cicero Institute and Jonathan Choe of the Discovery Institute. Mayor Karen Bass, whom Burchett asked in a September 2 letter to testify and produce LAHSA contracting records, said she is not available to appear, with her office offering to work with the subcommittee on a later date.
HUD suspended LAHSA from federal grant activity on June 11; a federal judge in August issued a preliminary injunction halting the suspension while LAHSA's lawsuit proceeds.
U.S. District Court, D.R.I., via CourtListener · on plaintiffs' unopposed motion to correct the FY2026 CoC NOFO judgment
Plaintiffs in NAEH v. HUD filed an unopposed motion September 4 asking the district court to recast its August 7 judgment setting aside HUD's FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO as a Rule 54(b) partial judgment, and then to resolve their still-pending claims against OMB, which challenge two footnotes OMB attached when it apportioned approximately $4 billion in FY2026 CoC funds on May 22. Because HUD's appeal is pending, plaintiffs seek an indicative ruling first; responses are due September 18.
In the First Circuit appeal (26-1923), HUD's emergency stay motion remained pending as of the appellate docket's September 9 update, after the panel ordered supplemental briefing that concluded September 2.
The board of the Los Angeles Continuum of Care published a request for qualifications seeking applicants for the four federally mandated functions that make up LAHSA's core work, including the homelessness database, the annual count, and the annual HUD funding application. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the county would apply to take over those functions, and Mayor Karen Bass said the city "intends to apply for some or all the roles"; Bass stepped down from LAHSA's 10-member board Wednesday. Applications are due September 24, with a special meeting scheduled October 7 and the board's report to Judge David O. Carter due October 13.
In August, Judge Carter ordered HUD to accept LAHSA's 2026 application and distribute $241 million under local priorities while requiring a nationwide competition for the 2027 contract.
Federal Register (HUD) · on HUD's proposed Continuum of Care program incentive categories
HUD filed a 54-page notice for public inspection September 10 seeking comment on activities it proposes to incent through the Continuum of Care program, with comments due 30 days after its scheduled September 11 publication. The notice names five activity categories, including transitional housing with employment- and behavioral-health-focused services, supportive service participation agreements, drug-free and sober housing, and coordination with law enforcement and first responders. The notice states that as of 2023 a median of 6 percent of individuals in CoC-funded housing nationally increased their earned employment income during the reporting period.
On August 27 the First Circuit ordered the parties in NAEH v. HUD (26-1923) to brief what "bonuses or other incentives" means under 42 U.S.C. § 11386b(d)(1); HUD's stay motion in that appeal remains pending.
New York Post · on Bass declining the Sept. 15 House DOGE subcommittee appearance
Mayor Karen Bass's legal counsel, David Michaelson, wrote the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency that the mayor "is not available" for its requested September 15 appearance at a hearing on federal homelessness funding routed through LAHSA, and gave no reason. The letter said her office would produce the requested documents — covering LAHSA's internal controls, use of federal homelessness funds, and communications among the mayor's office, LAHSA, the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors — by September 14. A subcommittee spokeswoman said the panel is proceeding with the hearing without her.
The subcommittee's September 3 letter from Chairman Tim Burchett cited more than $1 billion in federal funds to LAHSA since 2021.
The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, chaired by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), sent Mayor Karen Bass a letter asking her to testify at a Washington hearing on what it describes as waste, fraud and mismanagement at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and requested nearly seven years of documents by September 14. Bass's attorney David Michaelson replied that she would not be available, said unsheltered homelessness in L.A. has fallen 11% since 2022, and said city leaders are preparing a plan to make the city the "sole or primary administrator" of its homeless services. LAHSA's suspension by HUD kept it from filing an August 26 application for $240 million in federal funding on behalf of 140 homeless services organizations.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction against HUD's suspension of LAHSA in August; HUD has filed papers indicating it will appeal.
CourtListener · on HUD's pending stay motion in the CoC NOFO vacatur appeal
Appellees — including NAEH, NLIHC, Boston, Cambridge, Tucson, Santa Clara County, King County, and Nashville — filed their supplemental response September 2 to the First Circuit panel's questions on HUD's set-aside authority under 42 U.S.C. § 11382(a) and the meaning of "bonuses or other incentives" in § 11386b(d)(1). HUD filed its supplemental memorandum August 31, and under the panel's schedule its supplemental reply is due by 5 p.m. today, September 4. As of the docket's September 3 update, the panel had not ruled on HUD's emergency motion to stay the vacatur of the FY2026 Continuum of Care funding notice.
The District of Rhode Island vacated the FY2026 CoC funding notice on August 7; the panel's August 27 order set the supplemental briefing schedule that ends with today's reply.
The White House · on the FY2027 continuing resolution signed September 2
President Trump signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, on September 2, providing FY2027 appropriations to federal agencies through December 11. NLIHC's analysis of the measure's text said the bill would extend the availability of some homeless assistance and fair housing grants that would otherwise have expired, and would let public housing authorities repurpose unobligated tenant-based rental assistance to cover costs for households with expiring vouchers.
The House passed the bill 370-48 on September 1 and the Senate 90-6 in early August, ahead of the September 30 funding deadline.
Cicero Institute · on a Cicero Institute paper on restructuring Continuum of Care funding
The Cicero Institute published a paper by Chris Sharp, Caleb Jacobs, and Ryan Prenosil proposing that HUD's Continuum of Care program shift from paying for services delivered to paying for outcomes such as exits to unsubsidized housing and employment income. The paper said total CoC provider compensation grew from $6.53 billion in 2013 to $14.22 billion in 2024, a 117.8 percent increase, while the population served grew 31 percent. It endorsed the FY2026 NOFO structure that protects 60 percent of Annual Renewal Demand and competes the remaining 40 percent, with a $1.3 billion set-aside for transitional housing and supportive-services-only projects.
The FY2026 CoC NOFO the paper endorses was vacated by the District of Rhode Island on August 7; HUD's appeal and stay motion are pending in the First Circuit (No. 26-1923).
The House voted 370-48 Tuesday to pass the Senate's continuing resolution keeping federal agencies funded through December 11, sending it to President Trump, who was expected to sign it. The Senate passed the measure 90-6 in early August. The bill carries anomalies the Senate added, including for 2028 Olympic preparations and housing assistance, and provides funding flexibility for WIC, disaster relief, and wildland fire programs.
FY2026 government funding was set to expire September 30; the House's own July continuing resolution had run only through December 4.
CourtListener · on First Circuit supplemental-briefing order on HUD's motion to stay the CoC NOFO vacatur
A three-judge First Circuit panel (Montecalvo, Aframe, and Dunlap) ordered supplemental briefing on HUD's emergency motion to stay the vacatur of the FY2026 Continuum of Care funding notice pending appeal, directing the parties to address whether 42 U.S.C. § 11382(a) gives the Secretary discretion to set aside Continuum of Care funds so long as congressionally mandated set-asides under § 11386b(a) and (b) are met, and what "bonuses or other incentives" means in § 11386b(d)(1). The order set appellants' supplemental memorandum for August 31 at 5 p.m., appellees' response within two days thereafter (September 2), and any reply within two days after that.
The District of Rhode Island vacated the FY2026 CoC funding notice on August 7, and briefing on the stay motion itself closed August 24 with HUD's reply.
City Bureau reported that Chicago stands to lose almost $67 million in federal Continuum of Care funding and 5,892 of its more than 9,000 permanent supportive housing beds if proposed federal cuts are enacted, and that Illinois as a whole would lose $106 million and 9,362 of 21,400 beds. The Trump administration tried in November to impose a 30% cap on Continuum of Care money used for permanent housing programs. Federal COVID-19 relief money that supports local services must be spent by the end of 2026, with no plans to replace it, the outlet reported.
The FY2026 CoC funding notice carrying HUD's new conditions was vacated by a federal court on August 7; HUD has appealed and moved for a stay pending appeal.
CourtListener · on First Circuit supplemental-briefing order on HUD's emergency stay motion
With HUD's emergency stay motion fully briefed since August 24, a three-judge First Circuit panel — Judges Montecalvo, Aframe and Dunlap — on August 27 ordered both sides to file supplemental memoranda on two statutory questions: whether 42 U.S.C. § 11382(a) gives the Secretary discretion to set aside Continuum of Care funds beyond the congressionally mandated set-asides in § 11386b(a) and (b), and what "bonuses or other incentives" means in § 11386b(d)(1). HUD's memorandum is due August 31 by 5:00 p.m., with the appellees' response due within two days and any reply two days after that.
The court's August 17 briefing order had stated it "intends to rule promptly on the matter," and the stay motion was fully briefed as of HUD's August 24 reply.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, toured the Outsiders Inn men's shelter inside St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vancouver on August 27, where staff urged her to protect federal housing dollars, including HOME-ARP and Community Development Block Grant funding administered through local governments. Staff said some funding for outreach and housing stability work is awaiting HUD approval, and case manager Renae Rush said about 15 men at the shelter are "document ready" for housing but have waited a year or longer. Perez said she would follow up on the funding concerns.
St. Paul Lutheran Church has been part of Vancouver's homelessness response since 2003, when it began hosting the Winter Hospitality Overflow overnight shelter program.
NAHRO reported that HUD published PIH Notice 2026-21, setting operating subsidy grant eligibility calculations for calendar year 2027, with new provisions beyond the usual annual terms. The notice asserts HUD's right to "terminate, reduce, or limit the availability of a grant" for performance or substantial noncompliance, makes Operating Subsidy recipients and their contractors responsible for complying with all existing and future executive orders, and references a proposed HUD Unified Grant System whose reporting requirements would apply to all grant recipients. NAHRO said the notice also states that provisions not specifically struck down by a judge will be considered by HUD to remain in place.
Comments on the proposed HUD Unified Grant System reporting collection are due September 8, 2026, under a 60-day Federal Register notice published July 8, 2026.
The San Francisco Standard · on Ninth Circuit ruling on HUD and DOT grant conditions
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on August 25 upheld an injunction blocking conditions HUD and the Department of Transportation attached to already-awarded grants, which required recipients to certify they run no programs violating federal anti-discrimination law, promise not to spend funds promoting "gender ideology" or elective abortion, and verify recipients' immigration status. Writing for the panel, Judge M. Margaret McKeown found most conditions "far exceed the limited authority set out by Congress and superimpose onerous requirements well after the government already awarded grant funds"; the panel held Title VI does permit nondiscrimination assurances and remanded for the district court to narrow its injunction accordingly, with Judge Patrick Bumatay dissenting. San Francisco's city attorney said the ruling protects roughly $240 million in annual HUD funding to the city, including about $50 million for homelessness services, plus some $2 billion in DOT funds.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle blocked the conditions in June 2025; the administration appealed that order.
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit via CourtListener · on HUD's reply brief completing First Circuit stay briefing in the CoC NOFO appeal
HUD, Secretary Scott Turner, OMB, and Director Russell Vought filed their reply in support of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal on August 24, docketed at 1:28 p.m., ahead of the court's 5:00 p.m. deadline; the filing completed the briefing schedule the First Circuit set on August 17, under which the ten appellees responded August 21. The court, which said it intends to rule promptly, had not ruled as of the docket's last update Monday evening.
The appeal challenges the District of Rhode Island's August 7 judgment vacating HUD's FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO; the district court denied the same stay request on August 13.
Continuum of Care grant funding for the Cincinnati region, due July 1, arrived about a month and a half late, and gap-funding contracts Cincinnati and Hamilton County had prepared were not executed. Strategies to End Homelessness president Kevin Finn said organizations covered July and August costs from other sources and the HUD funding will pay for services through the program year ending June 30, 2027; he said HUD has not released information about the next round of CoC funding, whose applications would typically be due in August or September.
The vacated FY2026 NOFO would have capped permanent supportive housing at 30% of CoC spending; the Cincinnati-area continuum spends about 95% of its current funding on permanent supportive housing.
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit via CourtListener · on the appellees' response to HUD's emergency stay motion in the CoC NOFO appeal
The ten appellees — including the National Alliance to End Homelessness, NLIHC, Boston, Santa Clara County, and Tucson — filed their response to HUD's emergency motion for a stay pending appeal on August 21 at 4:28 p.m., meeting the court's 5:00 p.m. deadline. HUD's reply is due by 5:00 p.m. today, August 24, and the court's August 17 order said it "intends to rule promptly on the matter"; no ruling appears on the docket as of its August 22 update.
The district court denied the same stay request on August 13, holding HUD had not presented "a new, previously-unrejected basis on which they will likely succeed on the merits."
The Times reported that Joe Lonsdale's Cicero Institute has driven Republican homelessness policy, with 21 states considering camping bans or other Cicero-backed laws in recent years and 16 passing them. Former Domestic Policy Council official Scott Centorino said at a closed-door June Cicero conference that he consulted the group in drafting President Trump's homelessness executive order; Lonsdale told the Times "our work has been one of the main influences" and put his Cicero spending at "well less" than $15 million a year. The paper reported HUD's blocked NOFO sought to move two-thirds of roughly $4 billion in annual homelessness aid to time-limited programs with work rules or treatment mandates, a change opponents warned could cost as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people their housing.
The Washington Post and Mother Jones each published their own profiles of Lonsdale and the Cicero Institute the same day, August 22.
Based on leaked audio recordings, Invisible People reported that sitting HUD and White House Domestic Policy Council officials described plans to roll back Housing First at the Cicero Institute's June 5, 2026 summit in Washington, held four days after HUD released the FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO. HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development Ronald Kurtz told attendees "homelessness is much less a housing problem than it is a human problem," and HUD's Caitlyn McKenney said 41% of adults in HUD-funded permanent supportive housing self-report substance use disorder.
McKenney is the HUD official whose declaration accompanied the department's August 13 emergency stay motion in the district court.
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit via CourtListener · on First Circuit expedited briefing on HUD's emergency stay motion in the CoC NOFO case
HUD filed an emergency motion for stay pending appeal directly in the First Circuit on August 14, one day after the district court denied its emergency stay of the August 7 order vacating the FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO. On August 17 the First Circuit ordered plaintiffs-appellees to respond by 5:00 p.m. August 21 and HUD to reply by 5:00 p.m. August 24, and said it intends to rule promptly.
HUD's CoC competition page states the 2026 NOFO and its August 26 application deadline are no longer in force and that HUD is unable to accept applications.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said it plans to modernize its financial operations after a KPMG fiscal review found that delayed payments to contracted service providers stemmed from interconnected operational issues — complicated workflows, manual processes, multiple funding sources, and underused data systems — rather than any single cause. The agency said it has implemented many of the recommendations and is seeking an accounting firm to guide longer-term changes; HUD Secretary Scott Turner posted on X on August 14 that "LAHSA is on notice — not another dime until they show the money actually helps people toward recovery and self-sufficiency."
On August 13, Judge David O. Carter ordered HUD to restore homelessness-program funding for Los Angeles County, ruling the June suspension violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Homeless Action Network of Detroit · on Detroit CoC's suspension of FY2026 grant work after the NOFO vacatur
The Homeless Action Network of Detroit, the city's Continuum of Care collaborative applicant, suspended all work on its FY2026 HUD application after the August 7 federal ruling vacating the FY2026 NOFO, and told project applicants to stop entering projects into eSNAPS. The CoC Board had voted August 10 on new CoC Bonus and DV Bonus projects and its Project Priority Ranking list, which HAND is now publishing "for information only."
HUD announced on May 21, 2026 that all current CoC projects, including Detroit's, were awarded FY2025 funds non-competitively.
HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing issued Notice PIH 2026-20 on August 10, removing language that had allowed public housing agencies to set Emergency Housing Voucher and Stability Voucher payment standards up to 120% of Fair Market Rent without HUD approval. Agencies must now follow the standard 90-110% range, with anything above 110% requiring formal HUD approval, and must comply within 60 days for new Stability Voucher admissions and for current EHV and SV families moving to a new unit.
The Emergency Housing Voucher program's $5 billion appropriation is projected to be depleted by the end of 2026, with almost 42,000 households still relying on it.
In an August 18 interview on KVI's Ari Hoffman Show, HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the administration's scrutiny of federal homelessness spending is not limited to Los Angeles, answering "Absolutely" when asked whether HUD was looking at similar action in Seattle and naming Seattle, Boston, and the Virgin Islands. Turner told KVI that federal officials found LAHSA could not account for 2,300 housing spaces and said HUD will judge programs by treatment and self-sufficiency outcomes rather than money distributed.
HUD suspended LAHSA from federal grant activity on June 11; a federal judge blocked the suspension on August 13.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a $29 million fund to provide goods and services to eligible homeless veterans and veterans in the HUD-VASH program, with up to $11 million in aid distributed on VA clinicians' recommendations starting in early FY2027. VA also expects to award transportation contracts by September 2026 providing up to $18 million in free transportation services for homeless veterans.
The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act authorizes the assistance through the end of FY2027.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced joint "Treatment First" actions on homelessness, directing closer coordination between federal housing and behavioral health systems and outreach to Continuums of Care, housing providers, treatment and recovery grantees, state and tribal partners, and faith-based organizations. HHS described the announcement as the latest action in a shift away from what the release called the failed Housing First policies of the Biden administration.
HUD, HHS, and ONDCP released the "Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction Through Treatment First" on August 12 (HUD release HUD-NO-26-059).
U.S. District Court, D.R.I. via CourtListener · on HUD's appeal of the CoC NOFO vacatur and denial of its emergency stay
HUD, Secretary Scott Turner, OMB, and Director Russell Vought filed a notice of appeal on August 13 from the August 7 order that set aside the FY2026 Continuum of Care NOFO, and moved for an emergency stay of the judgment pending appeal, requesting relief by August 17. Judge Mary S. McElroy denied the stay the same day, writing that the defendants failed to present a new basis on which they would likely succeed on the merits. The First Circuit assigned the appeal case number 26-1923 on August 14.
The vacated NOFO's original application deadline was August 26, 2026; responses to the stay motion in the district court were due August 27.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction finding HUD acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from managing federal homelessness funds, and ordered LAHSA restored as master applicant when the funding process is redone — about $240 million on behalf of 140 service providers under the application originally due Aug. 26. Carter set a trial date in February, ordered the Los Angeles Continuum of Care to deliver a review by Oct. 13 of agencies that could replace LAHSA, and ordered HUD to execute stalled contracts with providers that have been working without reimbursement. HUD Secretary Scott Turner posted on X that the administration would "fight this legally."
HUD suspended LAHSA on June 11; a separate Aug. 7 ruling in Rhode Island threw out HUD's 2026 homelessness spending plan, nullifying the Aug. 26 application deadline.
Street Roots · on Homeless Services Department director Nathaniel VerGow's funding outlook
In an hour-long Street Roots interview, new Homeless Services Department director Nathaniel VerGow said $15 million to $20 million in county HUD funding could be at risk, with roughly 40% of HUD-funded programs forced into national competition and Tier 1 renewals capped at 60% versus roughly 90% or higher in prior years. He said Metro's supportive housing services tax now supplies 60% of HSD's budget and has housed more than 10,000 people, and that the county is converting rapid-rehousing programs to transitional housing in response to HUD restrictions.
VerGow told OPB the prior week that the agency must do as much if not more with less against a $67 million budget gap.