Virginia Joins Suit to Stop Trump Administration from Blocking Funding Addressing Homelessness

Virginia Joins Suit to Stop Trump Administration from Blocking Funding Addressing Homelessness  

RICHMOND, Va. -- Attorney General Jay Jones, along with a coalition of other attorneys general, filed a suit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s unlawful funding changes. HUD is attempting yet again to unlawfully cap funding for permanent housing projects, in a move that would result in tens of thousands of people losing their homes, Virginia and a multistate coalition argued in a lawsuit filed in federal court today. 

“Access to safe and affordable housing is the foundation of any successful family, because where you live impacts your health, education, employment, and access to opportunity,” said Attorney General Jay Jones. “The Trump Administration’s continued politicization of HUD is detrimental to our communities and family stability. My office is committed to fighting all forms of federal overreach in order to uphold equality of opportunity throughout the Commonwealth.” 

Just last month, a coalition of states won a separate case against HUD in federal court in Rhode Island regarding the agency’s decision last year to impose illegal conditions on billions of dollars in funding for the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which supports housing and other services for people experiencing housing instability or homelessness. Congress has prioritized stability in the way the funds are allocated, and the vast majority of CoC funds have traditionally supported permanent housing and other projects that have been shown to work.  

On June 1, HUD sought again to re-implement a cap on funding for permanent housing and set other unlawful conditions on the funds. Without action by the court, HUD’s actions mean CoC-funded permanent housing projects will lose funding or see it reduced, resulting in tens of thousands of people being evicted back to the streets, with states and local governments left to pick up the pieces. 

For more than two decades, HUD has embraced a commitment to permanent housing programs and the so-called Housing First model, which prioritizes rapid placement in permanent housing without requiring people to first meet conditions such as sobriety or a minimum income threshold.  

But the current federal administration has rejected the commitment to the Housing First model and undermined the CoC program. First, HUD published notices of funding opportunities last year that set a 30% cap on CoC funding that were subsequently found unlawful.  

Now, HUD has issued the June 1 notice of funding opportunity that creates a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects prioritizing such things as transitional housing, which results in a de facto cap on permanent housing. That shift threatens housing for at least 97,000 residents of CoC-funded permanent housing across the country according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. 

The states argue that HUD’s actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act for, among other things, failing to proceed with notice-and-comment rulemaking and being arbitrary and capricious. They ask the court to declare that the challenged conditions are illegal and block HUD from implementing them. 

Joining Attorney General Jay Jones in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. 

Published on: July 13, 2026

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