FY2026 Appropriations Advocacy Activation Toolkit 

Letter to Advocates

Thank you for your continued advocacy during this incredibly busy Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) federal budget season. Your engagement with your elected officials in Congress remains critical for ensuring communities have the federal resources needed to solve homelessness.

When we push back, we win.

When the current Administration announced a funding freeze in February, you raised your voices and together we halted this illegal and dangerous move. And when the President proposed a FY26 budget that threatened the very infrastructure of local homelessness response, we once again helped stave off the worst of these cuts and policy threats with collective advocacy. But we must remain vigilant and keep pushing. The proposed budget blueprints outlined by Congress remain insufficient to meet the needs of the field and they introduce the possibility of new risks to communities.

We need your voice TODAY.

Please continue to raise your voice. We must advocate for the resources needed to respond to homelessness, and we also must also prevent harmful policy proposals from making it into the final funding passed by Congress.

How to use this guide

This guide can serve as your go-to resource for advocacy related to the FY2026 appropriations process. Through it, you can:

1. Learn about critical federal programs to respond to homelessness
2. Understand the current threats proposed by Congress and the current Administration
3. Get up to speed on how you can lead with solutions in your advocacy
4. See how you can leverage data, stories, and messages to amplify your work

As always, it remains critical in this work for us to localize each policy issue by leveraging both personal stories and community-specific data points.

Thank you for your continued advocacy.

We know that crises at the federal level are one more challenge on your plate. That’s why we appreciate the time you have devoted to educating federal lawmakers on these budget asks. Even just five minutes of your advocacy can make a big difference.

Please let Marcy Thompson (mthompson@naeh.org) know any questions.

Thank you for your partnership!

Overview of the Federal Appropriations Process

Please note that the FY2026 appropriations process is separate from the budget reconciliation bill that was passed in early July. Though both the budget reconciliation bill and the final appropriations bill make up the FY2026 federal budget, the process for each is different. Read our recent blog post to learn how.

Each year, appropriations committees in the House and Senate determine funding for all discretionary programs. The House and Senate Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD) subcommittees determine HUD’s annual budget, including funding for the homeless assistance grants program.

In FY2025, Congress and the Administration did not come to an agreement on federal discretionary spending. As a result, Congress passed a full-year continuing resolution which funds the federal government at the same levels as the prior fiscal year, essentially freezing funding levels. Although funding remained the same between FY2024 and FY2025, it did not account for inflation and rising housing costs. This could create a gap of $150 to $200 million between the amount available and the amount needed to preserve existing homelessness projects. The Alliance estimates that at least 18,500 households could lose housing assistance from this shortfall, and that it will reduce the availability of housing and services to help people get back into housing.

Current Status of the FY2026 Appropriations Process

• President’s Proposal: Earlier this year, the President’s proposed budget identified harmful policy changes, severe funding cuts, and total elimination of critical programs for vulnerable people, which, if enacted, would spike rates of homelessness.
• House Proposal: The House appropriations committee rejected the majority of proposals for HUD recommended by the Administration. Funding levels, however, would be insufficient to cover renewals for HUD’s homeless assistance grants.
• Senate Proposal: The Senate also largely rejects the President’s budget, and provides more funding than the House, but still at insufficient levels.

Both chambers of Congress must convene and approve a joint spending bill with the President’s signature by the end of FY25 (9/30). If they are unable to reach agreement, we face the possibility of (1) a government shutdown, (2) a short-term continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating while Congress continues negotiations, or (3) another long-term continuing resolution if they are, yet again, unable to reach a final agreement.

Key Resources for this year’s federal appropriations process:

• FY2026 Federal Budget Resource Series (resources landing page)
• House and Senate Subcommittee Proposed Budgets (chart)
• Visualizing the Impacts of the President’s FY2026 Budget (analysis)
• State Fact Sheets (one-pagers)
• State-by-State Data, including on Disparities (data dashboard)

We hope you will use this guide and these resources to keep the pressure on Congress and ensure that the final reconciled bill prioritizes sufficient funding for the programs your community relies on.

Securing the Funds Needed to Solve Homelessness

The Alliance hopes advocates find the following resources helpful in engaging lawmakers. Advocates can:

• Learn more about the risks presented by proposed cuts and policy changes to assess threats to your own community.
• Ask themselves key questions on how to convey impacts to decision-makers. Consider sharing compelling stories to humanize each issue and make the impacts of harmful policies clear for decision-makers and their staff.
• Consider sample talking and data points when crafting your messages to partners and lawmakers, leveraging local data to make a tailored and community-specific case for more resources.

The top priority is securing sufficient funding for the Homeless Assistance Grants account (Continuum of Care & Emergency Solutions Grants programs).

Overview 

Although the House and Senate did not take up the Administration’s disastrous proposals, advocates cannot breathe a sigh of relief, nor let the Administration’s outlandish budget distract us from the irresponsibly low funding that Congress proposes. The Homeless Assistance Grants account serves as the main targeted federal funding source to solve homelessness, supporting the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program and the Emergency Solutions Grants program.

The Senate seeks to increase funding for these targeted homelessness programs by almost 12 percent compared to FY25 levels, compared to only 3 percent proposed by the House. Yet even this funding increase fails to meet the demonstrated need. The Alliance urges Congress to provide at least a 21 percent increase ($871 million more) to targeted homelessness programs to meet program renewal costs and to respond to challenges such as homelessness amongst older adults.

The Ask

The Alliance urges the Administration and Congressional lawmakers to provide the Homeless Assistance Grants account with a $4.922 billion appropriation in FY26. We appreciate the Senate’s higher and bi-partisan appropriation for this account, but we need more funds to not only maintain critical ongoing projects but to make new investments to respond to evolving needs.

Key Resource

Read how Congress can help solve homelessness in this federal budget cycle.

Messaging Guidance for 2025 Virtual Capitol Hill Day

The following documents are intended to help inform your discussions with your law makers during the Alliance’s Capitol Hill Day and beyond. The guidance is not prescriptive; these meetings will be short, and it is important that you identify the topics most important to you. Use the talking points and prompts provided here, to the extent that they are useful, to help you and your colleagues prepare.   

To make the greatest impact, we do ask that all delegations include the ask related to the FY2026 appropriation for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants programs. 

These document includes two sets of messaging cascades: 

• Topline Talking Points: Broad talking points that frame the overall issue and the position that Congress is being asked to take.  
• Tailored Messaging Prompts: It is critical that lawmakers hear specifically about these issues in the context of the district and/or state that they represent. These prompts are provided as examples of the type of quantitative and qualitative data and information that should be gathered and prepared in advance of each meeting so that it can be incorporated to bolster your arguments. Work with local CoCs and government agencies to gather as much information as possible for the state and each district (to the maximum extent possible).  

FY26 Appropriations

Additional Talking Points

In addition to FY26 Appropriations, advocates can use the below talking points when talking to elected officials about homelessness and related topics that may arise:

Appendix: Take Action During this FY26 Budget Cycle

This document contains recommendations to consider when educating lawmakers; they are not all-encompassing. Please center your messaging and advocacy activities on what works best for you and your community.

To both defend crucial HUD homelessness programs from funding cuts and to advocate for expanded investments, the Alliance encourages advocates to immediately contact their members of Congress, build coalitions with other organizations in your Congressional districts, and spread their message via local media.

Phase 1: Contact Congress

Contact Congress now to educate them about the crucial work you do on the ground and to advocate for more resources for your community.

• Ways to Advocate: Use NAEH Advocacy Center to contact members of Congress by:
  1. Using the Congressional switchboard to call your representatives’ offices with a sample phone script.
  2. Filling out the Alliance’s online advocacy form that has a prewritten letter ready for you to sign.
  3. Adapting the template letter for yourself, your organization, and your community.
• Solutions to Advocate for:
  • $4.922 billion for the Homeless Assistance Grants account, which covers the Continuum of Care and the Emergency Solutions Grants programs
  • $38.6 billion for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance account, which covers Housing Choice Vouchers, HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, and other tenant-based vouchers.

Set up meetings with your Congressional offices to share the potential impact of this proposed budget. We encourage you to engage with both the Washington, D.C. and district office(s) of your legislator, both during and out of session. Share these experiences with other local and state advocates to swap lessons learned and encourage more people to join in your efforts.

1. Research Your Legislators
   • Find Your Members in Congress
   • Research what committees they serve on and if they serve in any leadership positions
   • The Appropriations Committees in both House and Senate, particularly the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) subcommittee remains the most important for the homelessness advocacy budget cycle.
2. Resources:
   • Federal Budgeting 101: Why Advocates Matter
   • Advocacy Guide: Tips for Engaging with Members of Congress at Home During the Summer Recess
   • Your Summer Advocacy Checklist
   • Sample Leave Behind Material: Connecticut Federal Funding Fact Sheet
   • Sample meeting agenda (MSWord file download)

Phase 2: Build Coalitions and Spread Your Message

1. Pull together sign-on letters to your Congressional delegation from CoCs and member organizations across the state and other partners. These should include (but not be limited to) faith-based partners, rural providers, organizations serving veterans, and local officials.
   • Resource: Sample budget sign on letter from faith-based partners.
2. Share critical data points with other advocates in your community. If your current role limits your ability to engage in advocacy work, please consider sharing relevant information and data points to support the work of partners in your network who can advocate.
3. Share these anticipated impacts with local media to drive coverage, including through submitting op-eds or letters to the editor. Here are some sample oped resources:
   • Cuts to HUD will devastate Rockland County. Here’s how
   • Federal funding cuts will exacerbate NYC’s homelessness crisis
   • Trump’s Housing Cuts Will Hurt Work Poor and Homeless in California
   • Trump’s budget cuts will make housing more expensive in Kentucky