In this week’s newsletter, you’ll see a lot of different ways to take action. I want to emphasize that this is not a business-as-usual advocacy request.
Over the past several months, we’ve called on you many times to use your voice to speak up to Congress and the Administration against harmful policy proposals. We know that there are many demands on your time and attention and that “advocacy fatigue” is real. But we cannot let up—the hundreds of thousands of people experiencing homelessness on a given night rely on us. Every action you take makes a difference, and we’re grateful for that.
The fight to protect and expand federal resources and the promotion of evidence-based approaches is ongoing. Today, I must ask for your voices with a special urgency to my request.
As some of you know, in 2024, the Alliance and its partners successfully persuaded Congress to extend the process for applying for HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition funding to a two-year cycle, rather than re-applying every single year. As those of you who craft these applications know, this is an intense and disruptive process. Shifting to a two-year cycle allows for few disruptions, and more time for strategy, planning and execution. In other words, this change was in service to system (and government) efficiency.
Recently, HUD sent out a communication to CoCs and recipients of CoC funding indicating that it intends to administer a new competition for FY2025 CoC Program funding. Retracting their prior commitment in the middle of an established funding cycle would create an undue burden on CoCs and the programs that serve people experiencing homelessness in their communities.
This is an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ moment when we need HUD and Congress to hear from many collective voices about why issuing a new funding application now for FY2025 is not acceptable. This is also an opportunity to make clear to HUD how important the CoC Program is to local and state efforts to respond to homelessness. In this moment, Congress and HUD need to hear from as many people as possible, all sharing the same message.
What You Can Do
1) Contact HUD leadership directly (contact information is included in the letter to the Secretary linked here). Reach out to them and respectfully urge them to honor their commitment to the two-year CoC NOFO. In your outreach to them, please include:
- The significant and important role that CoC Program funds have in your community-wide efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
- The extent of effort that already went into planning for FY2025 CoC Program funds through the two-year planning process.
- The productive and strategic ways the CoC has planned to use its time, resources, and capacity in calendar year 2025 in lieu of a NOFO for FY2025.
- How disruptive it would be in your community to hold a new competition at this point in the year. Make HUD aware of the robust planning and coordination that typically happens throughout the year before the NOFO itself is released.
- The impact that having another year of grants significantly delayed would have on local efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
2) Contact your lawmakers in Congress. Urge your lawmakers to contact leadership in the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees for both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Urge them to put pressure on HUD to honor its commitment to CoCs and recipients of funding to keep the two-year NOFO in place. Use the following tools:
- Online form: Tell Congress: HUD Must Keep Its Promises
- Email subcommittee members directly, using the House THUD leadership and Senate THUD leadership lists.
- Call the Capitol Hill switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
3) Urge other stakeholders to take action. There are many stakeholders within a CoC who have a vested interest in the uninterrupted continuation of CoC Program funding.
It is critical during this time that HUD and Congress hear from a broad and diverse array of interested parties. Consider reaching out to the following stakeholders and ask them to contact both HUD and Congress:
- Local and state elected officials can describe how homelessness is a priority in their district/state, and how significant changes or lapses in federal funding will result in more people experiencing homelessness and increased financial dependency on local resources.
- Landlords can describe how they rely on federal funding for rental assistance being paid on time, how lapses or gaps in funding will result in significant financial hardship, and how this change may negatively impact future willingness to rent to clients of projects funded by the CoC Program.
- Vested partners (i.e., community partners or other entities that provide source of match or leveraging) can describe how planning for the FY2025 operating period is already determined for budgetary planning purposes, and how implications of having to reassess commitments could ripple across various initiatives.
As for the Alliance, I want to make sure you know what we’re doing at this moment. First, we have submitted formal letters to HUD Secretary Scott Turner and the leaders of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development subcommittees (for both the House and the Senate) and to register our deep concerns. We’re also reaching out to CoC leaders to ensure they are all aware of this situation and actively joining our efforts.
Your advocacy is so essential to the missions to prevent and end homelessness in the United States. On behalf of the Alliance, we are so grateful for your efforts.
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