Federal changes will increase WA homelessness, AG warns in new Trump lawsuit
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown on Nov. 25 announced a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over what it’s calling illegal changes in federal housing-support policy.
Named as defendants: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and HUD Secretary Eric Scott Turner. Washington is co-leading the suit filed Nov. 25 in the federal District of Rhode Island, alongside Attorney Generals Peter Neronha of Rhode Island and Letitia James of New York. Twenty-one states, including the District of Columbia, are part of the coalition.
Brown held a Nov. 25 news conference at the AG’s Seattle office. Flanked by other officials, the Democrat said that the state’s housing providers help move people out of homelessness and into permanent housing via a program known as the Continuum of Care. He accused the administration of President Donald Trump of unlawfully eroding that program.
HUD’s long-standing policies have improved public health and housing stability, Brown said. But the federal agency has since suddenly walked back its support and bypassed the will of Congress, he added.
“Tens of thousands of people will likely have nowhere to live come 2026,” Brown said. “It is as if this policy comes straight out of a Charles Dickens story.”
HUD is defending its Continuum of Care reforms.
In a statement to McClatchy, an agency spokesperson blasted the Biden administration’s policies on homelessness assistance, accusing them of inflicting harm on the vulnerable residents whom the nearly $4 billion grant program is meant to serve. The new framework will work to fix those failures and reward successful programs demonstrating accountability, the agency says.
HUD accused the attorneys general of deploying a “delaying tactic,” amplifying their personal political agendas to the detriment of the country’s homeless population.
“HUD intends to mount a vigorous defense to this meritless legal action,” the spokesperson continued. “HUD is confident that it will prevail in court and looks forward to implementing the new Continuum of Care framework after it has done so.”
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The attorneys general behind the suit claim that HUD is violating congressional intent and the law, as well as its own regulations. HUD has significantly cut back on grant funding meant for permanent supportive housing and has arbitrarily ended providers’ eligibility based on “whether or not they serve jurisdictions that essentially criminalize being unhoused,” Brown said.
HUD also tacked on bureaucratic road bumps, including a mandate that providers can only acknowledge two genders, Brown’s office said in a news release. It is requiring a precondition for residents, too: In order to access housing, they must accept services.
Brown alleged the Trump administration is shifting who gets funds, and how those dollars can be spent, based purely on political calculations.
The multi-state AG coalition is accusing HUD of infringing on its own regulations by making changes without first engaging in rulemaking. They also argue that Congress should have approved the new conditions.
State Rep. Nicole Macri, a Seattle Democrat, said that the federal administration’s actions will spark a rise in homelessness and threaten Washingtonians’ stability and safety.
“I am proud to stand with Attorney General Nick Brown to stop this unlawful and deeply harmful federal policy shift — one that puts thousands of Washingtonians at risk of losing their homes,” Macri said in the news release.
Congress created Continuum of Care grants, which assist regional and local coalitions in providing services and housing for those experiencing homelessness.
Washington receives some $120 million in such grants each year, mostly distributed to Pierce, King, Spokane, Snohomish and Clark counties, which count the most need for housing services.
Gov. Bob Ferguson took aim at the president in a Tuesday post on X, writing that the $120 million helps bolster programs that stabilize residents working toward permanent housing.
“Ripping it away is yet another cruel attack by the Trump Administration on our most vulnerable Washingtonians,” he continued.
Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn said at Tuesday’s news conference that the cruelest part of attacking permanent supportive housing is that it had been policy for decades. Limiting such housing could spell bad news in the coming weeks, he warned.
“What could happen is that folks who are severely disabled, folks who have no other option but these resources, could be forced out onto the streets, literally right before Christmas,” Nguyễn said.
HUD has previously sent some 90% of Continuum of Care dollars toward permanent housing, the AG’s news release says. Congress never approved the agency’s new rule, which would slash that by two-thirds for grants beginning next year.
Historically, HUD would let recipients protect about 90% of funding year to year, “essentially guaranteeing renewal of projects to ensure that individuals and families living in those projects maintain stable housing,” per Brown’s news release. But that’s since been reduced to just 30%.
Craig Chance, executive director for the Housing Authority of Thurston County, said in a call Tuesday that the amount his organization receives in Continuum of Care funding is fairly small, putting the figure at roughly $184,000 to $185,000 annually.
Chance said he understands that there’s frustration around resources being devoted to help people exit homelessness, and that what’s often witnessed is people in crisis.
“We tend not to see the successes,” he added. That’s where the story gets lost, he said.
The AG’s news release cites a Bellingham client, who fled a domestic-violence situation and spent years living out of shelters, motels, couches, cars and a small trailer.
“Getting housing was a huge relief, but functioning didn’t come back overnight,” the client wrote, according to the release. “It took more than a year before I could manage daily routines or feel safe again. That’s why wraparound services matter — they are the bridge between ‘not dying’ and actually living.”
Brown said this is the 45th case that his office has brought against the Trump administration in under a year.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 2:43 PM.
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