HUD’s New Funding Cap Would Cut Cuyahoga County Homeless Services Budget, Officials Say

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, reported in 2024 that more than 11,000 Ohioans were experiencing homelessness, a 3% increase from the year before. Local programs have been working to move people into permanent housing, but HUD is now rolling out a significant change to permanent housing funding that local officials say could strain those efforts.

Chris Knestrick, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said homelessness is tied to affordability and a shortage of housing people can access. He said people need stable housing first so they can then be connected to services. “People don’t heal from the sidewalk, so let’s get people into housing and then work with them to get connected to services,” Knestrick said. He said he is concerned about the impact of HUD’s new cap on permanent housing funding.

LeVine Ross, director of the Office of Homeless Services for Cuyahoga County, said that for many years HUD funded the Continuum of Care program, which connects people with resources and permanent housing. Under the change, Ross said, that funding will be capped and shifted toward transitional housing. “With the changes we will be subjected to a 30% cap, which means that that $51 million will now go down to $15.4 million for our continuum for Cuyahoga County,” Ross said.

Ross described how the model is changing. Previously, people could move directly into permanent supportive housing with access to mental-health or substance-use treatment. Under the new model, more funding will go to transitional housing, which can last up to 24 months and requires participation in treatment programs. Ross said people who have been chronically homeless and also have disabilities could be affected by a two-year limit tied to their housing. Protecting people with disabilities from losing their housing is a concern that echoes the call to defend the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9).

HUD’s Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, states that it “restores accountability to homelessness programs and promotes self-sufficiency among vulnerable Americans.” The notice also claims that roughly 90% of the last four years of Continuum of Care awards funneled funding to what it calls the failed “housing first” ideology. A HUD spokesperson said that setting aside 30% of funding for permanent housing, rather than the historical 90%, would restore a “true continuum” to the program. The spokesperson described the new notice as an investment in transitional housing and supportive services.

Ross said about 2,100 units may fall outside the 30% cap, and local officials are examining how to move those households into the new housing approaches. Knestrick said many of the individuals served are not people who can simply get a job and pay market-rate rent. “Many of those individuals will go back to the streets,” he said.

The application for the next grant cycle closes on Jan. 14 and will then be reviewed by HUD. The funding caps stem from executive orders, but Congress still has the authority to step in and make changes if called to do so.

Source: Read the original report