A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday temporarily barred the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from implementing new criteria governing tens of millions of dollars in funding to help people experiencing homelessness.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy granted a temporary restraining order from the bench in a lawsuit filed this week by several nonprofits that challenged HUD’s revised award process for the $75 million Continuum of Care Builds program, which funds housing for homeless families and individuals.
Plaintiffs including the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the Women’s Development Corporation argued that HUD lacked authority to change long-standing selection criteria and that the new process was designed to align grant awards with the administration’s social-policy priorities. The coalition said the changes would threaten communities by making funding contingent on local policies such as whether jurisdictions “support sanctuary protections, harm reduction practices, or inclusive policies for transgender people.”
“The court’s decision provides significant relief for communities in vulnerable circumstances and for the principle that federal housing funds exist to serve people in need, not to advance partisan goals,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. “The administration cannot unlawfully weaponize essential housing resources.”
Plaintiffs and their attorneys said the order prevents what they described as a “rushed, lawless attempt to make essential funding contingent on a community’s compliance with harmful and unlawful restrictions the Trump-Vance administration is trying to impose.” They asked the court to find HUD’s actions unlawful and to set aside the new criteria.
In legal filings, the coalition called the revised award process “shockingly unlawful” and warned it would “irreparably injure qualified applicants for these funds and the communities they serve.” A HUD spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A temporary restraining order is an emergency measure that preserves the status quo while the court considers whether a longer preliminary injunction is warranted. The ruling prevents HUD from applying the contested criteria while the case proceeds, although it does not determine the ultimate legality of the agency’s actions.
The Continuum of Care Builds program is a targeted federal effort to support the construction of housing and related services for people experiencing homelessness. The program has been administered with eligibility and selection criteria intended to prioritize need and demonstrated capacity to serve vulnerable populations; the plaintiffs contend the new rules represent a substantive departure from that approach.
The legal challenge is the latest in a series of disputes over federal conditions on housing and social services funds. Courts have been asked in recent years to weigh the limits of agency authority when executive-branch policy shifts alter grant criteria and award processes. The plaintiffs in this case argue the changes exceed HUD’s statutory authority and impose political litmus tests that conflict with the agency’s mission to address homelessness.
The case will return to federal court for further briefings and hearings as the parties litigate whether the restraining order should be extended and whether the revised HUD criteria should be set aside permanently.